All posts in the topic Dorset House: Quintain in trouble over market slump (Short link)

Aug 06 07:20 UTC

Thought it would interest people...there's a story in today's
Indpendent that Quintain Estates, the people who bought Dorset House
and the adjoining properties and have done precisely nothing with it
other than bang in a speculative planning application for far too
many student bedrooms, is suffering the credit crunch and
accompanying slackening in the property market and is planning on
disposing of more of its sites.  It doesn't mention Dorset House by
name, but considering the company's most important developments are
the high profile ones around Wembley Statdium and the Dome in London,
there's got to be a chance...

[fair use claimed]

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Independent, Wednesday 6th August, 2008

http://tinyurl.com/5blkhg

The company behind the regeneration around Wembley Stadium is
suspending dividend payments, firing staff and selling £100m of its
investment portfolio because of the slump in the property market.
Quintain Estates denied it was in crisis but insisted it was acting
responsibly in preparing for what it expects to be a lengthy downturn.

Rebecca Worthington, the finance officer, said: "We are not doing
this out of desperation but we do expect life to be difficult for
sometime." She said three of its major shareholders, owning 30 per
cent of the business, were "very supportive" of the emergency action.

The group's decision to halt dividend payments for up to two years
will hit investors immediately. Last year, Quintain paid dividends
totalling £15m.

Announcing the steps as part of a first-quarter trading update,
Adrian Wyatt, the chief executive, said: "The company has responded
to these tougher conditions and is equipped for them to continue for
the foreseeable future."

Mr Wyatt said Quintain would sell another £83m of property on top of
the £16.9m already raised from the sale of two properties in Wembley
and one in Cardiff.

Quintain will also seek investors to help finance development of the
85-acre tract of north-west London around the stadium. The estate
management team has also been cut from 29 to 13. The group has also
shaved off £4.1m in running costs at its "new district" development
in Greenwich, close to the O2 stadium. The group insisted that work
would carry on normally.

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