Lane nets £3.9m in property deal

Lane group has exchanged contracts on a sale and leaseback of its property at Portbury.
Proceeds net of costs will be £3.9m and there will be an ongoing rental obligation for 15 years to the break clause, starting at £325, 000 a year. Bank facilities are confirmed, subject to the completion of the sale and leaseback.
These points are revealed in the auditor’s notes to the financial statement for the year ended October 2 2004, which are newly filed at Companies House.
Lane Group turnover fell 23.4% to £41.2m from £53.7m. Pre-tax loss was £2.46m compared with a loss of £3.96m the year before; the operating loss was £2.42m, compared with a loss of £3.58m the previous year.
The plc says in its report that it has begun to see the positive effects of its turnaround plan.
In its annual report for 2003 it said it had decided to focus on providing dedicated contract distribution services, with an emphasis on home delivery.
In 2003 it closed its Home Lane delivery service. In February 2004 the group sold its driver agency Lane Logistics Services to the management and a month later sold its joint venture freight forwarding agency ISL ti its management.
The new report says: “the group is now suitably repositioned into initiate contact- backed growth. The expected out-turn for the current year is close to break-even. The directore are… optimistic about the prospects for future growth.”
Overhead costs had been “pruned significantly” during the second quarter of the year, contributing to restructuring costs of £463, 000. The bill fell 48% to £12.1m.
Directors’ emoluments were £261,000, down from £440,000 in the previuos year.
Contract start-up costs hit the 2004 results in a loss of £443,000.
“the cost pressure caused the new contractor to become insolvent and the customer ended up having to pay significantly higher costs.”