Parkwood bags £27.6m leisure centre deal
PRESTON-based Parkwood Holdings, which manages golf courses and swimming pools, has completed a £27.6m leisure centre PFI contract with Bristol City Council.
The deal will see Parkwood Consultancy Services build and project manage a new leisure centre and car park at Hengrove, which is due to open in February 2012.
The leisure centre will be operated by Parkwood Leisure under a 25 year contract with an annual value of £2.3m.
The group said a profit of £700,000 will be recorded in the interim results from the development fee and sale of equity in the PFI special purpose company.
The subordinated debt for the project was provided by Equitix Leisure Limited, which also purchased the equity in the PFI special purpose company.
The company also said in its interim statement that severe weather conditions had affected January trading, particularly in the leisure division where a number of centres were closed due to the snow and ice.
However, trading has since improved with more satisfactory levels of performance in spring, it added.
It said: “The flow of tender opportunities has been affected to a certain degree by the current political climate but the group is working on a number of new business opportunities.”
The group’s current order book is £492m (December 31, 2009: £471m).
In recent months Parkwood disposed of its leisure-related PFI investments, generating a profit of £5.5m, and put a special purpose company, Realm Services, into administration following a contractual dispute with the Ministry of Defence.
