News blog

John Swan & Sons

• BY: Andrew Hore |
• POSTED: 06/10/2014 |

Livestock auctioneer John Swan & Sons has sold 1.4 acres of grazing land at Chesser Avenue to the owner of the nearby Edinburgh Corn Exchange venue for £550,000.

Marco’s Leisure has agreed to pay additional proceeds if it sells the land for a higher price or if planning permission is granted for change of use within five years. John Swan would receive 50% of any increase in value.

The land was in John Swan’s books for £50,000 and even after £10,000 of costs the initial gain is £490,000.

Loss-making John Swan had a NAV of £5.78m at the end of April 2014. At 650p a share, up 25p, John Swan is valued at £3.98m. Land and buildings were valued at £3.46m in last year’s accounts.

There was a £478,000 cash outflow in the year to April 2014 which left £115,000 in the bank. A bad debt of just over £160,000 hit the company’s figures last year and trading is improving.

Download the latest AIM Journal from http://www.hubinvest.com/AIMPDFSeptember2014_60.pdf