FINN (COM) Daily Record: 19 May 2004

FINN(COM) DAILY RECORD: WEDNESDAY, 19 MAY 2004

 

Compiled by J. Brock (FINN)

 

Falkland Islands Holdings PLC

Investment in Portsmouth Harbour Ferry Company

 

The board of Falkland Islands Holdings PLC (“FIH”) is pleased to announce the purchase of 21.6% of the issued share capital of Portsmouth Harbour Ferry Company public limited company (“PHFC”) as a long term investment.

 

PHFC was established in 1883 and operates a ferry service across Portsmouth Harbour between Portsea and Gosport and also owns a travel agency.  The Falkland Islands company also has long a history of providing a service to a local community having been established by Royal Charter in 1851.

 

PHFC recently published consolidated accounts for the year ended 31 December 2003, which showed the following:

 

	2003	2002
	£’000	£’000
Turnover	4,571	4,693
Pre-tax profit	775	915
Net assets	2,918	2,520
Earnings per share	222.87p	323.49p
Dividends per share	50p	29p
Net assets per share	£12.69	£10.96

 

FIH will benefit from dividends paid in respect of its 21.6% shareholding in PHFC in relation to PHFC’s trading activities from 1 January 2004.

 

The consideration paid for the 49,701 PHFC shares acquired by FIH comprised £596,412 in cash and 66,268 new FIH shares. Based on the mid market price of a FIH share at close of business yesterday the total consideration had a value of £759,000. The cash element is being financed out of FIH’s existing cash resources and bank facilities.  The new FIH shares are subject to transfer restrictions for up to one year.

 

At present, FIH’s earnings and assets are almost exclusively related to its activities in the Falkland Islands. The FIH Group provides a wide range of services to the local economy there including retailing, wholesale and distribution, financial services, motor vehicle distribution, shipping agency, port services and accommodation. The FIH Group is also involved in exploration activities in the Falklands and South Atlantic , onshore for minerals and offshore for oil.

 

As part of its stated strategy FIH has been looking to diversify its activities outside the Falkland Islands. PHFC offers a long term investment opportunity in a sector which has a number of comparable features to FIH’s business .  As a result   FIH will improve the spread of its assets, its risk profile and scope for future growth.

 

 

 

Following the issue of 66,268 new FIH shares to the vendors of the PHFC shares acquired, FIH now has 6,236,305 shares in issue. Application has been made for the admission of the new FIH shares to trading on AIM.

 

19 May 2004

 

 

Enquiries:

Falkland Island Holdings
	David Hudd, Chairman	07771 893 267
Dawnay, Day Corporate Finance Limited
	David Floyd, Director	020 7509 4570

 

FIBS NEWS DIRECT: 19 MAY 2004

 

INTERVIEW WITH DAVID HUDD:

 

Lee Hazell asked Chairman of Falkland Island Holdings, David Hudd (DH), to tell listeners more.

 

DH:  Portsmouth Harbour Ferry Company operates the ferry, which crosses the end of Portsmouth Harbour.  The company was established 120 years ago.  It’s not dissimilar to the fact that we have been established 150 years, so they have been servicing the people of Portsmouth for 120 years and we have been looking out for the Falklands for 150.  We had a good look at the company and decided we would like to make an investment in it, which is what we have just done.

 

LH:  Most of your businesses are involved in the Falklands.  Why are you looking elsewhere?

 

DH:  Although we are making a big commitment to exploration in the Falklands and you have seen our development in the West Store.  We are, by no means, ignoring the Falklands.  We have some other housing developments we are going to be doing in the next year so we feel that we have the management capacity to expand.  And, this is an investment we liked, so we made it.

 

LH:  How much are these shares actually worth?

 

DH:  We have issued a few shares.  It’s been 80% cash 20% shares.  We issued some shares at 245p and so we’ve spent just a little less than £800,000.00 buying 21.6% of this company.

 

COURT NEWS:

 

Cherry Robson was given a 12-months conditional discharge this morning after pleading guilty to a public order offence.  The court heard that she had asked her niece, Debby Robson to talk to her in the ladies at the Globe Tavern on the 10^th of April.  She took her into a cubicle and then began shouting and became abusive.  Crown Council, Graham Cripps, said the defendant had taken her niece by the arms and scared her.  Debby eventually got out of the cubicle and fled to her parents’ house.  The defendant said she had been trying to settle a long-running family feud but accepted that alcohol had clouded her judgment and she had used inappropriate language.

 

Also in Court this morning Rueben Raul Arretta and Emma Jones were each fined £175.00 plus £50.00 costs for driving insurance offences.  Miss Jones was fined for allowing Mr. Arretta to drive her Land Rover without insurance when he was test-driving it with a view to buying it on 03 April.  The Police questioned them when they saw the vehicle stopping and starting on Biggs Road.  Mr. Arretta was at the wheel with Miss Jones as a passenger.  He said he had assumed that, as in Chile, a vehicle, which was insured, could be driven by anybody.  Miss Jones said it was an honest mistake and she simply had not thought about the issue of insurance.  Both pleaded guilty.

 

Ned Stuart’s application for the return of his driving licence after disqualification was turned down.  Senior Magistrate, Nick Sanders, said he was very sympathetic to Mr. Stewart’s efforts to stay sober but said it was too early to return his licence after only 3 months off the bottle. He encouraged him to reapply in another 3 to 6 months.  Mr. Stewart’s original 7-year driving ban was for failing to give breath samples when under suspicion of drink driving.

 

Two other cases were adjourned without plea in court this morning.  Leonard John Hirtle faces a charge of drink driving after allegedly crashing into a parked vehicle on Ross Road West on May 17^th, having drunk 2 hot rums and 4 beers.  The case of Gabriel Ceballos was also adjourned.  He is charged with affray and common assault.  Both cases will be back before the Court on Friday afternoon at 1400.

 

COMMITTEE NEWS:

 

Next week’s PWD Committee will see an application being put forward to paint a yellow line on one part of Jersey Road.  Chief of Police, Dave Morris, put the proposal forward after being approached by a member of the public, who raised road safety concerns about the area outside the end of Jersey Road flats.  The person had complained that when vehicles are parked on the bend, they obscure the view of oncoming traffic.  Mr. Morris adds the problem of parking is easily solved as there are three parking bays opposite this bend where the vehicles could park.  Roads engineer, Bob Hancox, agrees with the Chief of police’s proposal, saying that in the winter, snow has a tendency to build up along that part of the road.  And, having vehicles off the road would make passage easier and safer for all..  The PWD Committee meets on Monday at 1330 at Gilbert House.

 

FLIPPER TAGS:

 

There’s a report in the Times Newspaper today that tagging Penguins can affect their breeding success.  Researchers working at Possession Island in the Indian Ocean injected 100 King Penguins with trackers under the skin of one leg and then fitted half of them with flipper tags.  Though there was no difference in survival rates, the tagged birds reached their summer breeding grounds up to a month later than the others, missing the pick of the partners.  Untagged birds have a success rate of 83% compared with just 62% for the tagged birds.  The Times says tagging is a controversial practice.  It’s already been stopped by BAS and by Falklands conservation, as Becky Ingham (BI) told us this morning.

 

BI:  Prior to 1986 these flipper tags were used in the Falklands for occasional programmes.  However, we did stop it in the early 1990s following the initial concerns that were raised, that they both affected their swimming ability and eventually cuts into the flipper.  What we have done since then is a programme of not tagging Penguins.

 

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