Helical Bar plans developing spree
PROPERTY group Helical Bar yesterday said it had turned a corner as it revealed plans to begin a development spree, despite plunging further into the red for the full year.
The firm said it had raised around £500m to invest in retail projects and student accommodation developments, including £26.4m of its own cash raised in a share placing at the beginning of the year and funding from an unnamed US private equity partner.
“At a time of such economic uncertainty it is always easy to see the downside risks but lose sight of the opportunities provided when assets are priced at cyclical lows,” said chief executive Mike Slade.
“We have the firepower from the recent placing, the backing of our US partner and others and internally generated resources to take full advantage of the opportunities.”
Slade added that “all the ingredients are coming into place for sustained recovery” in the property market.
Helical, a UK commercial property specialist, posted a full-year pre-tax loss of £71.9m for 2008, three times more than a year ago, blaming substantial writedowns in the value of its properties.
The value of its investment portfolio fell 21.3 per cent to £241.3m over the year to March.
MIKE SLADE
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF HELICAL BAR
Slade, 61, originally joined the board of Helical Bar as an executive director in 1984, and has been chief executive since 1986.
Married with three children, his great passion outside the world of property is for sailing.
Slade has so far landed no less than twelve world records with his 100ft super maxi yacht, the ICAP Leopard – his last back in February, when he won the inaugural RORC Caribbean 600 race, completing the course in just over 44 hours.
The victory came just a month after he set a new course record for the Heineken Cape to Bahia race, a 3,330 nautical mile trans-Atlantic race, by finishing in just 10 days, 5 hours and 46 minutes.