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Oakdene Homes plc

('Oakdene' or 'the Company')

Annual General Meeting

At the Company's Annual General Meeting held today, the Chairman, Philip Stephens, made the following comments:

'It was announced yesterday that the terms of the Placing announced by Oakdene on 9 May 2008 have been varied, subject to shareholder approval, to include an issue of warrants on the basis of 1 warrant for each Placing Share subscribed for. The warrants will be exercisable during the period between 12 and 24 months following the date of issue, at an exercise price of 50 pence. Shareholders will be asked to approve the issue of the warrants at a General Meeting of the Company at a date to be announced shortly. I am pleased to announce that commitments have been received for the placing of 10,000,000 shares raising additional capital for the Company of £5,000,000 net of expenses.

2007 was a difficult year for all housebuilders and Oakdene was no exception. As has been widely reported, the onset of the credit crisis arising from sub prime lending in the USA caused a dramatic slowdown of the housing market in the UK. Fortunately the slowdown in the South East has not been as marked as in other regions but nonetheless had its effect on our profit for the year. The slowdown has continued into 2008 and it is difficult to forecast with any degree of certainty when the market will return to more normal conditions. The housing market has always been cyclical and over the longer term we envisage a return to more stable conditions.  

As I mentioned in my statement in the Annual Report, in other respects 2007 was a good year for Oakdene. Careful land buying and success in obtaining planning permissions resulted in an increase in the net asset value per share, based on current values rather than historic cost as at 31 December 2007, by around a third to £1.80 per share. This success has continued into 2008 and we recently announced the grant of planning permission on the next phase of our development at Newhaven, on the South coast, for an additional 331 residential units and 1,388 square metres of commercial space.

Trading to date for the current financial year is in line with the Board's expectations although, as in previous years, the Group's earnings will be more weighted towards the second half of the year. I look forward to reporting on further progress alongside the Group's interim results in September.' 

www.oakdene-homes.co.uk

   

ENQUIRIES:

Oakdene Homes plc                                                           Tel: 01737 249393

Carl Turpin, Chief Executive

Robert Boot, Finance Director

Bell Pottinger Corporate & Financial                               Tel: 020 7861 3232

Zoe Sanders

Panmure Gordon

Dominic Morley (Corporate Finance)                                    Tel: 020 7459 3600

Mark Lander (Corporate Broking)

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