Acquisition of Palm Beach Club Limited for £36.25m
   
Stanley Leisure plc (“Stanley”) announces that it has reached agreement to acquire Palm Beach Club Limited, the owner of the Palm Beach casino in Mayfair, London (“Palm Beach”) from London Clubs International plc (“LCI”).

The total consideration will be £36.25m, less the inter-company indebtedness of Palm Beach, subject to a completion accounts adjustment for working capital. This will be satisfied by cash drawn on Stanley’s existing facilities.

Palm Beach is a well-established, popular mid-market casino, which has benefited from a full structural refurbishment at a cost in excess of £7m.

Palm Beach’s unaudited management accounts for the year ended 30 March 2003 showed an operating profit (before management charges) of £2.6m 1 reflecting, the Board believes, a level of trading still improving as a result of the club’s refurbishment. The Board has confidence in Palm Beach’s prospects as it is ideally positioned to benefit from deregulation.

The acquisition is conditional upon LCI’s shareholders approving the transaction at an extraordinary general meeting expected to be held on 19 May 2003. The directors believe that the acquisition of Palm Beach will be earnings enhancing in its first financial year 2.

Commenting on the acquisition, Bob Wiper, Chief Executive of Stanley said:

“The acquisition of Palm Beach will strengthen Stanley’s position as the leading gaming operator in Great Britain and is an excellent addition to our existing three casinos in London – Crockfords, The Colony and The Mint. Palm Beach operates in a different market segment to our existing London portfolio and provides an outstanding opportunity to enhance our estate.”

Enquiries:

Stanley Leisure plc
Bob Wiper
Michael Riddy
Tel: 0151 237 6170

Hudson Sandler
Michael Sandler
Noemie De Andia
Tel: 020 7796 4133

Notes:
1 The audited operating profit (before management charges) for the year ended 31 March 2002 was £1.1m; the net assets of Palm Beach, which are the subject of the acquisition, as at this date were £29.2m (excluding amounts owed to group undertakings, which will be settled at completion).

The unaudited operating profit (before management charges) for the six months ended 29 September 2002 was £1.3m; the net assets of Palm Beach, which are the subject of the acquisition, as at this date were £28.9m (excluding amounts owed to group undertakings, which will be settled at completion).

2 This statement should not be interpreted to mean that Stanley’s earnings per share for the year ending 2 May 2004 will necessarily exceed its historical published earnings per share.