UIL Ltd. — Interim / Quarterly Report 2023

Jan 27, 2023

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RNS Number : 1548O

Ace Liberty & Stone PLC

27 January 2023

Ace Liberty and Stone plc

(''Ace'' or "the Company'')

INTERIM RESULTS FOR SIX MONTHS TO 31 OCTOBER 2022

Ace Liberty and Stone Plc (AQSE: ALSP), the active property investment company capitalising on commercial property investment opportunities across the UK, is delighted to announce Interim Results for the period from 1 May 2022 to 31 October 2022. 

Highlights*:

·      Pre-tax profit decreased marginally by 3% to £731,383 (H1 2022) from £754,911 (H1 2021)

·      Rental income slightly reduced by 6% down from £2,887,723 (H1 2021) to £2,700,031 (H1 2022)

•      Open Offer and re-finance provide cash resources of £9.5m for investment in UK commercial property

•      Contracts exchanged for the Dorchester property.

*Note: Full details can be found in the Chairman's statement

Ismail Ghandour, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"The half year shows a stable operating position and ends with the Group poised for expansion."

Chairman's statement

I am pleased to announce the Company's interim results for the half year ended 31 October 2022. Turnover at £2,700,031 for the half year is down by 6.5% on the comparable value for the previous year of £2,887,723 as a result of properties sold in the year ended 30 April 2022 and commented upon in those results. The results show a one-off increase in administrative expenses, and income from dilapidations in respect of the Fawcett House, Sunderland property; no adjustments have been considered necessary to the values of investment property assets.

Discussions have continued with Sunderland City Council on the future re-development of Fawcett House. A cost of £184,000 has been recorded in the period for rates charges on empty portion of that property (approximately £130,000 relating to a previous period), contributing to the increase in administrative expenses. Measures have been put in place to mitigate this expense for the future.

Contracts have been exchanged for the purchase of Loders Service Station, Dorchester at a cost of £2,080,000 and completion is expected shortly. The property yields a rental income of £167,914 initially, with substantial increases embedded in its fifteen-year unexpired lease.

The Company is proceeding to completion of the acquisition of the property at Unit M, 9 Hunters Row, Stafford.

Several other purchases are under consideration and acquisitions will be made when advantageous to the Company in the current unsettled economic circumstances.

The Company has continued with its programme of management changes. Mark Thomas, Commercial Director, who has been a director of the Company since its formation has resigned to pursue his other interests. His role has been assumed by Nick Jones, Property Director designate, who joined Ace in January 2022. I thank Mark for his hard work in helping to establish Ace and wish Nick well for his future role.

There have also been changes within the staffing of the Finance department, including a period of Maternity Leave for an employee.

These actions have driven an increase in salary costs of £115,000, which are mainly non-recurring, included in Administration Expenses during the period.

The re-finance of the Group's secured loan facility by Coutts & Co was satisfactorily concluded during the period and all obligations to Lloyds Banking Group were satisfactorily settled.

On 21 October, the Company announced an Open Offer of one share at nominal value for every four held at the record date. The offer closed on 30 November and raised £3,074,653 represented by the issue of 12,298,612 new ordinary shares of 25p. The new shares were admitted to trading on 14 December. These funds, together with the cash balances available at period end, leave Ace with approximately £9.5 million available for investment opportunities.

As a result of the re-finance and the Open Offer, the Company currently has cash resources of approximately £9.5m to invest in UK freehold and long leasehold commercial properties according to its existing policies.

Surplus funds will be invested short term with UK deposit takers regulated by the Bank of England.

There has been no change in the status of the £4.2m placed with LiBank s.a.l.

On 21 October the Company paid a dividend of 3.4p per share to mark its intention to resume shareholder distributions after the pause dictated by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The previous payment had been 13 November 2019.

The following statistics are key to the Company's activities at 31 October 2022:

a)     Portfolio Loan to Value is 55% (H1 2021: 50%)

b)    Weighted Average Unexpired Lease to Break is 6.52 years (H1 2021: 7.03 years)

c)     47% of tenants are government bodies (H1 2021: 57%); 51% are triple-A commercial (H1 2021:42%)

The directors believe the Group is well positioned to thrive whatever the UK economy may have in store.

Dr Tony Ghorayeb

Chairman

27 January 2023

Unaudited group statement of comprehensive income

for the six months ended 31 October 2022

	Year to date 31 October 2022 (Unaudited)	Six months ended 31 October 2021 (Unaudited)	Year ended 30 April 2022 (Audited)
	GBP	GBP	GBP
Turnover	2,700,031	2,887,723	5,697,850
Gain / (loss) on disposal of investment property	(29,442)	-	917,203
Administrative expenses	(867,144)	(579,241)	(1,291,943)
Fair value gain on investment property	-	-	193,704
Fair value loss on investments	-	-	(797,576)
Fair value loss on assets held for sale	-	(100,000)	(200,000)
Loss on disposal of subsidiaries	-	(314,800)	(412,382)
Dilapidations Settlement	127,954	-	-
Finance cost	(1,536,238)	(1,550,156)	(2,792,045)
Finance income	336,222	411,385	751,421
Profit for the period	731,383	754,911	2,066,232
Taxation	(144,557)	(215,540)	(769,427)
Profit after taxation	586,826	539,371	1,296,805
Other comprehensive income	-	202,302	202,302
Total comprehensive income for the period	586,826	741,673	1,499,107

Earnings per share - profit after tax
	Pence*	Pence*	Pence*
Basic	1.00	0.92	2.21
Diluted	0.80	0.72	1.76
Earnings per share - total comprehensive income on redemption and rollover of CLNs	Pence*	Pence*	Pence
Basic	1.00	1.26	2.55
Diluted	0.80	0.99	2.03

*Unaudited

Unaudited group statement of changes in equity for the six months ended 31 October 2022	Share capital	Share premium	Other reserve	Treasury shares	Retained earnings	Total equity
	£	£	£	£	£	£
Balance at 30 April 2021	14,626,463	16,773,712	202,302	(480,620)	1,074,323	32,196,180
Total comprehensive income for the period
Profit for the period	-	-	-	-	539,371	539,371
Other comprehensive income	-	-	-	-	202,302	202,302
	-	-	-	-	741,673	741,673
Transactions with owners
Shares issued during the year	62,500	137,500	-	-	-	200,000
Value of conversion rights on convertible notes	-	-	(202,302)	-	-	(202,302)
Equity element of new issue on convertible notes	-	-	208,600	-	-	208,600
	62,500	137,500	6,298	-	-	206,298
Balance at 31 October 2021	14,688,963	16,911,212	208,600	(480,620)	1,815,996	33,144,151
Total comprehensive income for the period
Profit for the period	-	-	-	-	757,434	757,434
	-	-	-	-	757,434	757,434
Transactions with owners
Shares issued during the year	22,750	64,150	-	-	-	86,900
	22,750	64,150	-	-	-	86,900
Balance at 30 April 2022	14,711,713	16,975,362	208,600	(480,620)	2,573,430	33,988,485
Total comprehensive income for the year
Profit for the period	-	-	-	-	586,826	586,826
	-	-	-	-	586,826	586,826
Transactions with owners
Shares issued during the year	5,850	17,550	-	-	-	23,400
Dividend on ordinary shares	-	-	-	-	(1,985,948)	(1,985,948)
	5,850	17,550	-	-	(1,985,948)	(1,962,548)
Balance at 31 October 2022	14,717,563	16,992,912	208,600	(480,620)	1,174,307	32,612,762

Unaudited group statement of financial position
at 31 October 2022
	At 31 October 2022 (Unaudited)	At 31 October 2021 (Unaudited)	At 30 April 2022 (Audited)
	GBP	GBP	GBP
ASSETS
Non-current assets
Investment properties	76,500,343	79,706,639	76,500,343
Investments	4,240,851	5,000,680	4,240,851
Deferred tax	186,738	223,541	186,738
Derivative Financial Instrument	662,864	3,293	326,651
	81,590,796	84,934,153	81,254,583
Current assets
Assets held for sale	-	3,050,000	850,000
Deferred tax	-	76,000	-
Trade and other receivables	570,885	628,090	533,079
Cash and cash equivalents	6,581,380	1,309,086	2,245,873
	7,152,265	5,063,176	3,628,952
TOTAL ASSETS	88,743,061	89,997,329	84,883,535
EQUITY AND LIABILITIES
Current Liabilities
Liabilities held for sale	-	1,227,563	-
Trade and other payables	2,915,535	3,326,249	3,072,567
Taxation	835,999	540,714	953,280
Borrowings	11,467,712	32,168,011	17,644,125
Derivative due within 1 year	-	16,472	-
	15,219,246	37,279,009	21,669,972
Non-current liabilities
Borrowings	40,911,053	19,574,169	29,225,078
	40,911,053	19,574,169	29,225,078
EQUITY
Issued capital and reserves
Share capital	14,717,563	14,688,963	14,711,713
Share premium reserve	16,992,912	16,911,212	16,975,362
Other reserve	208,600	208,600	208,600
Treasury shares	(480,620)	(480,620)	(480,620)
Retained earnings	1,174,307	1,815,996	2,573,430
Total equity attributable to owners of the parent	32,612,762	33,144,151	33,988,485
TOTAL EQUITY AND LIABILITIES	88,743,061	89,997,329	84,883,535

Unaudited Group cash flow statement

for the six months ended 31 October 2022

Year to date 31 October 2022 (Unaudited)	Six months ended 31 October 2021 (Unaudited)	Year ended 30 April 2022 (Audited)
	GBP	GBP	GBP
Profit before tax	731,383	754,911	2,066,232
Cash flow from operating activities
Adjustments for:
Finance income	(336,222)	(411,385)	(751,421)
Finance costs	1,536,238	1,550,156	2,792,045
(Gain)/loss on disposal of investment property	29,442	-	(917,203)
Fair value adjustment	-	100,000	803,872
Loss on disposal of subsidiaries	-	314,800	412,382
(Increase) / decrease in receivables	(33,481)	110,122	200,258
Increase / (decrease) in payables	(247,356)	(394,859)	(1,789,890)
Tax paid	(258,810)	(5,659)	(189,720)
Interest paid	(1,242,204)	(1,069,446)	(2,050,999)
Other financial costs paid	(454,535)	(17,320)	(39,469)
Net cash generated/ (used) by operating activities	(275,545)	931,320	536,087
Cash flows from investing activities
Interest received	9	619	825
Purchase of investment properties	(4,326)	-	-
Sale of investment properties	820,558	-	4,317,203
Sale of subsidiaries	-	3,241,484	5,067,061
Investment into LiBank	-		(37,747)
Net cash (used) / generated by investing activities	816,241	3,242,103	9,347,342
Cash flows from financing activities
Share issue, net of issue costs	-	-	-
Long term loans advanced	22,027,500	-	-
Long term loan repaid	(379,850)	(382,100)	(761,950)
Short term loans repaid	(15,890,751)	(5,395,600)	(9,788,969)
Equity dividend paid	(1,962,088)	-	-
Net cash generated by financing activities	3,794,811	(5,777,700)	(10,550,919)
Net increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents	4,335,507	(1,604,277)	(667,490)
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the period	2,245,873	2,913,363	2,913,363
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period	6,581,380	1,309,086	2,245,873

The interim financial information set out herein does not constitute full financial statements within the meaning of Section 240 of the Companies Act 2006. The interim results have not been audited or reviewed by the Company's auditors. The unaudited interim results have been prepared under the historical cost convention, in accordance with the Companies Act 2006 and applicable accounting standards in the United Kingdom.

The interim report has been prepared using accounting policies consistent with those set out in the Company's Annual Report and Accounts for the period to 30 April 2022. Those financial statements were prepared on a going concern basis.

The interim report for the six months to 31 October 2022 was approved by the Board on 27 January 2023

The Directors of Ace Liberty & Stone Plc accept responsibility for this announcement.

Notes to Editors

Ace Liberty & Stone Plc is a property investment company with a diverse portfolio of properties located across the UK, predominantly in the midlands and north of England, which are now the focus of Government incentives. The Company locates commercial properties which have creditworthy tenants, several years' rental income and the potential for an increase in value through creative asset management activity, such as change of tenancy, change of use or new lease negotiation.  Ace has maintained a track record of generating strong profits at disposal of properties and achieving better-than average returns on capital. With strong support from shareholders and mortgage lenders, the Company is currently seeking to deploy its strong balance sheet and is seeking further investment opportunities in the UK to create value for existing and new investors.

Ace is run by a board with extensive property experience, an excellent network of contacts and relevant professional qualifications. This sector expertise has allowed the Board to identify opportunities and act promptly to secure investments.

For more information on the Company please visit www.acelibertyandstone.com

For further information, please contact:

Ace Liberty & Stone Plc
Ivan Minter, Chief Finance Officer	Tel: +44 (0) 20 7201 8340
	http://acelibertyandstone.com
Alfred Henry Corporate Finance Ltd, AQSE Growth Market Corporate Adviser
Nick Michaels	Tel: +44 (0) 20 3772 0021
SP Angel Corporate finance LLP Broker
Vadim Alexandre / Rob Rees		Tel: +44 (0)20 3861 6625

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