Board Changes

Highcroft Investments PLC 14 June 2002 Highcroft Investments PLC - Board Changes and Statement regarding Future Strategy - Board Changes At the Company's Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday 11 June 2002, shareholders voted, on a poll, against the resolutions to re-elect John Hewitt and Tony Phillips as non executive directors of the Company. Accordingly, Mr Hewitt and Mr Phillips have ceased to be directors of Highcroft with immediate effect. The Board is grateful for John and Tony's contribution to the Company over the years and wishes them both well for the future. Corporate Objectives The broad objectives of the Company remain unaltered. These are to enhance shareholder value by virtue of a combination of increasing asset value, increasing profits and increasing dividends. Future Strategies Following a period of extensive debate on the wide-ranging strategic options available to the company, the Board of Highcroft have resolved: • To modify the balance of the Company's allocation of funds between property and listed investments. A greater focus will now be on the property portfolio. • To realise a proportion of listed investments over time as tax-efficiently as possible. The funds generated will be reinvested in the property portfolio from which we expect to earn higher income yields than from listed investments. • To maintain a smaller, though still significant, proportion of funds in listed investments in order to keep a broad risk profile. It is not the intention to realise the whole of the listed investment portfolio. • In expanding the property portfolio, not to be averse to assuming a degree of development risk. However, such development risk will not, for example, include the purchase of bare land without planning permission. Rather the Board regards its forward funding of the Langford Locks development in 1999, as a good example of the development risk it will be happy to assume. • Additionally, in expanding the property portfolio, not to be averse to a moderate level of gearing. However, this does not represent a radical shift to a highly geared property company. It is merely allowing ourselves the possibility that opportunities for the property portfolio may arise which cannot be met by internal funding but which can be met externally by loan finance. Conclusion The Board believes that this modest change in emphasis will allow the Company to generate sufficient income growth to continue to fund a level of dividend growth which has been achieved in recent years while at the same time achieving the degree of secure asset backing which the Board believe that shareholders expect and which they have had in the past. 13 June 2002 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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