Parkwood sells PFI investments for £4m

LANCASHIRE support services company Parkwood is raising £4m through the sale of part of its investment portfolio.

The Preston company which operates leisure centres, parks and other schemes under the PFI scheme, said its order book at the end of October was £508m – marginally ahead of last year’s £500m.

The proceeds of the sale of  stakes or partial stakes in five PFI schemes to Equitix will be used to cut group debt.

In a trading statement covering the period from July 1 Parkwood said its trading performance had “benefitted from the usual improvement in activity levels at this time of year”, but the general economic environment remained challenging.

“The group’s leisure division is trading in line with the budget for the year which anticipated a substantial increase in profit compared to the previous year due to an increase in revenue from new contracts.

“Glendale, the group’s green services division, continues to find trading difficult primarily as a result of weak demand, particularly in horticulture, golf and countryside.”

Parkwood said was restructuring the Glendale operation to reduce overheads and improve efficiency.

It added that it has renegotiated its banking facilities for the next 12 months, but did not disclose further details.