Acquisition of New Premises

Slingsby(H.C.)Plc 27 May 2005 H.C. Slingsby plc ('Slingsby') Acquisition of New Head Office Premises The Board is pleased to announce the completion of the acquisition of a new head office site (called Baildon Holmes). The premises are located 4 miles from the existing head office on the edge of the town of Shipley, West Yorkshire. The Board has been heavily engaged in a significant project to review Slingsby's operations with a view to taking greater control of the supply chain. The ultimate aim is to significantly enhance customer service levels. The nature of Slingsby's activities has gradually changed over the past 20 years. Slingsby is no longer predominantly a manufacturing business and has evolved into a marketing led distribution business with a small niche manufacturing capability. The current site is largely inappropriate for our current business activities. It has limited access and is spread over several buildings separated by a busy road, leading to ineffective warehousing and logistical operations, coupled with inefficient use of personnel. All possible options have been considered by the Board, including rebuilding part of the existing site, but due to the topography this would be very expensive and largely impractical. The Baildon Holmes premises are approximately 125,000 square feet, comprising five single storeyed interlinking warehouses fronted by two and three storeyed office accommodation. The site occupies an area of 4.75 acres. An additional 0.88 of an acre of land adjacent to the site has also been acquired to allow for future expansion. The full consideration for the new premises (including the additional land, but excluding stamp duty) is £4.25 million. This is being satisfied from our cash resources. The purchase of the Baildon Holmes property is not dependent on the sale of the current Preston Street site. It is, however, the Board's intention to market for sale the existing premises in Bradford as soon as possible. The Board expects Slingsby to move to the Baildon Holmes premises during the first quarter of 2006 following completion of the refurbishment programme. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange QILFVREIIDFIE
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