Alina Holdings PLC: Trading Statement

Alina Holdings PLC

(Reuters: ALNA.L, Bloomberg: ALNA:LN)

("Alina", "ALNA" or the "Company")

Trading Update

Duncan Soukup, Chairman, on behalf of the Board of Directors (the "Board"), I am pleased not to mention, relieved, to present the market with the following positive Trading Update:

"Our continued hedging efforts have resulted in significant positive contribution during the recent and on-going market correction caused by Covid-19, potential, and in some cases actual Central Bank tightening and, by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia's "Peace Keeping Forces.""

"The Company's Board is unanimous in its view that the current correction has further to run, and that the possibility exists for substantial economic slowdown in the coming months as higher commodity prices feed into higher consumer prices. Our fear is that Europe and the USA could experience a damaging bout of Stagflation (Sluggish economic growth coupled with a high rate of Inflation and increasing unemployment), resulting in recession. A proxy for this view can be seen in recent results of TJ Maxx (TJX US) a retail bellwether which missed its Q4 numbers due to supply-chain problems and rising personnel costs, resulting in sales and margins, which fell short of market expectations."

"I would like to emphasise that the Company's hedge positions are unlikely to fully protect against a complete collapse in global stock markets; they should, however, give a good degree of protection against a continued decline in stock prices, particularly in overvalued Tech. Shares and investor 'fear'.

Property Portfolio

The board is pleased to announce the completion of sale of the Westcliff property, which was agreed under the previous board in 2019 and has taken until now to finalise.

The Board has concluded that it will be maintaining the valuation of the property portfolio at previous levels. The Board is also of the opinion that the carrying values, based on the "Red Book" valuation, do not reflect the real value of the properties. To wit, the valuers have marked-down the value of the Company's Hastings property by 50%, as the largest tenant has vacated it, (and ca. 400 other properties in the UK). In the Board's opinion, the former tenant was not paying current market prices, and once the property has been refurbished, the ca 5,500 ft. sq., should rent for more than the former tenant was paying. The property (Castle Court) is located at the junction of Denmark Place and Castle Street, Hastings TN34 3DX.

During the pandemic the company was able to achieve substantially better than market collections having assisted, where possible, tenants with government grants. We are pleased to report that we were able to collect better than 92% of recoverable rent.

The Company's objective is still to liquidate the current portfolio of shopping assets which currently show a Gross Initial Yield of more than 16%, but only if a sale can achieve a sensible return in excess of the year end 2021 carrying value of £2.45m. 

"I look forward to expanding on these comments and quantifying the impact of current market volatility on our holdings in our forthcoming Annual Report for 2021 and Interims Results for 2022".             

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Retained Regulation (EU) 596/2014 (UK Market Abuse Regulation).

END

www.alina-holdings.com