Investor relations & Rule 26
About Water Hall Group Plc
Business description
Water Hall Group plc is a holding company. The activity of its principal operating subsidiary, Water Hall (England) Limited, is waste management based at the Water Hall Complex near Hertford.
The Company owns a 29.99% investment in Petards Group plc (’Petards’), an AIM listed company involved in high technology security and surveillance solutions.
The Company owns a 19.5% trade investment in a company in Egypt, which has a 15-year city cleaning contract in Suez that commenced in March 2002. It remains committed to dispose of this investment, which has no carrying value in the Company’s accounts, and thereby terminate its involvement with this activity.
The Company also owns an investment of 800,000 ordinary shares in Lloyds Banking Group plc.
The Group now has one continuing activity and business segment, waste management, based at the Water Hall Complex near Hertford. The principal operation in that segment over recent years has been Bunkers Hill (Bunkers), a 50 acre landfill site licensed to be filled with inert waste. On 29 October 2010 the group entered into a contract with Frank Lyons Plant Services (FLPS) for the sale of the freehold of Bunkers and the waste management activity at Bunkers ceased from that date.
Following the sale of Bunkers, Water Halls continuing waste management operations include the following interests and potential revenue generating activities:
- An 8 acre Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), not currently in operation, but which has planning consent until 2014 and could be reactivated should there be a suitable opportunity.
- Energy from Waste (EFW) through the contract with CLP Envirogas Limited (CLP), expected to provide revenues from the generation of electricity by the utilisation of gas from Southfield Wood (SFW) from April 2011 onwards. CLP have made a significant investment in this project, which includes the installation by CLP of gas pipe work required for the restoration of SFW.
Additionally the Group has option rights, which run to 2018, over areas of land adjacent to Bunkers containing sand and gravel reserves and the benefit of inert waste restoration post the sand and gravel extraction. These areas are known as Broad Green, where the Company owns the freehold mineral and infill rights with an option, subject to planning consent being granted, to purchase the surface rights, and Bunkers South, where the Company has an option to purchase the surface rights, subject to planning consent, and to operate the reserves under a royalty agreement with the landowner.
Having regard for the length of time required to complete the gas tests and to secure consent for planning applications for the option areas, at best the Group’s future revenues from these activities is expected to be minimal until 2012.