Buoyed by a rise in profits, Coalfield Resources (CfR) says it is pressing ahead with plans to take sole ownership of developer Harworth Estates. The property investment holding company currently has a 24.9 per cent share in the group.
Although not spectacular, CfR has reported a profit from continuing operations of £3.5m for the year to the end of December — up just £200,000 from 2013. At the end of last year it held net assets of £58.7m, compared to £55.2m the previous year.
“We have made good progress in growing the asset value of Harworth Estates, which continued to perform well in its second year of trading as a specialist brownfield investment property development company,” commented CfR chairman, Jonson Cox.
He also confirmed his company would now press ahead with its November decision to purchase the remaining 75.1 per cent of the Rotherham-based developer, which owns a 27,000-acre land bank, predominantly made up of former coalfield sites and industrial land.
Harworth specialises in the transformation of neglected sites into employment areas, residential properties and low carbon energy projects across the north of England and the Midlands. The latest valuation on its 200 sites was almost £284m.
Currently controlled by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), the purchase is expected to cost the Sheffield-based CfR around £150m. “This acquisition would give a strong platform for growing Harworth and we will continue to work with the PPF to deliver the transaction which is proceeding to plan,” added Cox.
“Re-establishing Harworth Estates within a single corporate structure will be a material step in the realisation of value from our brownfield property portfolio.”
Until December, 2012, Coalfield Resources was the parent company of Britain’s largest coal miner, UK Coal. In one of the most complex restructuring operations in UK corporate history, Coalfield Resources — previously known as UK Coal plc — split its business into two separate units and gifted 75 per cent of the property business to PPF; the trustees of the mining business pension fund.
If the takeover is completed as planned, the company will change its name to Harworth Estates Group PLC, to reflect the company’s operations since restructuring away from its former coal operations.
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