Reported via Company News Service to the Copenhagen Stock Exchange on 23 April
2007:
Keops has today concluded an agreement about sale of two Swedish centre
properties at a total price of SEK 680 million.
The sale comprises a shopping centre in Borlänge as well as the ferry terminal
building, Knutpunkten, in Helsingborg. These two properties are sold to the
British investment fund Lathe Investments. Lathe Investments is specialised
within operation and development of shopping centres and related properties.
The properties are sold as a part of Keops' continuous work on optimising the
existing property portfolio through active asset management - including also
divestment of individual properties which do not match the Group's portfolio
strategy in respect of e.g. use and geography.
After transaction costs, the sale of the properties (acquired by Keops in
2005/06) are expected to generate approx. DKK 65 million of liquidity and also
a profit before tax of approx. DKK 65 million as the sales price exceeds the
carrying amount at 30 September 2006.
The two properties will be transferred to the acquirer on 23 May 2007.
Consolidation in line with plan
Apart from optimisation of the composition of Keops' property portfolio, a
consolidation is in process through divestment of portfolios ready for sales
which have been more closely described in the six-point plan.
Previously in 2007, Keops carried through the sale of a number of Swedish
residential properties and of Fatburen, and the ongoing sale of the remaining
37 properties of the Malmstaden portfolio proceeds as planned. This means that
the expectations of the six-point plan as regards gain and cash proceeds on the
property portfolios designated as ready for sale are expected to be met.
Keops' expectations of the future
Accordingly, management maintains the most recently reported expectations of
Keops Group's total consolidated profit before tax for this financial year. The
expectations of profit before tax for 2006/07 accordingly constitute DKK
450-650 million including value adjustments of properties and debt.
Please address questions relating to this Notice to CFO Michael Rosenvold or
Head of Communications Susanne Lindø on tel. +45 3341 0000.
Any questions to Lathe Investments can be related to Director Ashley Blake on
tel. +44 (0) 1442 866 289.
This document in the English language is a translation of the Danish original
document.
In the event of inconsistency, the Danish version shall apply.
Forward-looking Statements
This Notice to the Stock Exchange may contain forward-looking statements within
the meaning of US Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995 and similar laws
and regulations in other countries regarding expectations of the future
development. Forward-looking statements provide our expectations or forecasts
of future events. You can identify these statements by the fact that they do
not relate strictly to historical or current facts. They use words such as
anticipate, estimate, expect, project, intend, plan, believe and other words
and terms of similar meaning in connection with a discussion of future
operating or financial performance. Such forward-looking statements are subject
to risks, uncertainties and inaccurate assumptions. This may cause actual
results to differ materially from expectations, and it may cause any or all of
our forward-looking statements here or in other publications to be wrong.
Factors that might affect such expectations include, but are not limited to,
general economic and business conditions and interest rate and currency
exchange rate fluctuations. As a result you should not rely on these
forward-looking statements. Keops is under no duty to update any of the
forward-looking statements or to confirm such statements to actual results,
except to the extent required by law. Please also refer to the description of
risk factors on pages 30 to 33 of Keops' Annual Report 2005/06, which is
available from www.keops.dk.
