Covid-19 Update
Fox Marble Holdings plc
("Fox Marble" or the "Company")
The spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to have a significant impact across industries worldwide, including the marble extraction and processing market, given the international travel and working restrictions now in place in many countries.
The Board’s highest priority is the continued wellbeing of its employees, customers and stakeholders both in the UK and Kosovo. Given the continued uncertainty on the potential impact and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Board has now taken preemptive steps not only to ensure the well-being of those affected, but also to best position the Company for future operations.
Kosovo Operations
In line with many other nations, Kosovo has introduced a number of measures to try and curb the further spread of COVID-19, including travel restrictions, school closures and closures of non-essential shops and venues. All flights into Kosovo have been cancelled since 16 March 2020, whilst land borders are also closed to non-Kosovo citizens. On 23 March 2020 all private businesses, apart from of some designated sectors, were also ordered to close.
Under the current legislation Fox Marble’s operations are permitted to continue, as it falls within a designated sector. The Company will continue to operate the factory, though it will scale back operations to specific projects. This will allow the implementation of extra distancing procedures to protect our workforce, as well as to take into account the impact of COVID-19 on the Company’s customers. Existing and committed projects will be completed, though timelines will be closely managed in co-ordination with our clients. The level of operations at the factory will be assessed every two weeks.
Fox Marble’s factory has, over the first quarter of this year, developed a strong order book of projects for the local Kosovan market and we hope to return to a higher rate of production as soon as conditions permit.
Macedonia Operations
In the operating update released on 10 March 2020 the Company noted the impact of the COVID-19 on the sale of block marble. Demand has fallen as a result of travel restrictions placed on China, the principal buyers of the Company’s block marble, since January 2020. The spread of the virus into Europe and the resulting impact on cross border travel and trade has magnified this effect. The Company has elected to significantly scale back production at the quarry in order to keep operational cash flow neutral until the international block marble market returns to normality. The Company is well positioned to ramp up operations as and when it is feasible to do so.
The Board will continue to closely monitor the situation and working capital will continue to be tightly managed. Whilst operations are temporarily suspended, the Company will seek to eliminate all unnecessary expenditure and the Board will not take any salary or fees until operations resume. Head Office staff in London are on government furlough, as we work to retain our hard working and committed team.
Chris Gilbert, CEO, commented
“Our focus during the rapidly evolving situations is the wellbeing of our workforce, customers and stakeholders. During this time of heightened uncertainty, we are strictly managing our cash flow. We hope to be able to resume full operations in both the factory and quarries soon and resume the projects within our order book.”
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.
For more information on Fox Marble please visit www.foxmarble.net or contact:
Fox Marble Holdings plc
Chris Gilbert, Chief Executive Officer
Fiona Hadfield, Finance Director
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7380 0999
Brandon Hill Capital (Joint Broker)
Oliver Stansfield
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3463 5000
Optiva Securities (Joint Broker)
Christian Dennis / Jeremy King
Tel:+44 (0) 20 3137 1902
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (Nomad)
Liam Murray / Sandy Jamieson / Ludovico Lazzaretti
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7213 0880
Notes to Editors
Fox Marble (AIM: FOX), is a marble production, processing and distribution company in Kosovo and the Balkans region.
Its marble products, which includes Alexandrian Blue, Alexandrian White, Breccia Paradisea, Etruscan gold and Grigio Argento and are gaining sales globally both to international wholesale companies as well as being supplied directly into luxury residential properties. In the UK these include among others St George’s Homes and Capital and Counties Plc’s Lillie Square development. In Sydney, Australia Rosso Cait, Alexandrian White and Breccia Paradisea marble have been used in what is expected to be Australia’s most expensive residential property. These sales serve to demonstrate the desirability of Fox Marble’s premium marble products as the stone of choice in some of the most prestigious and expensive residential developments around the world.
Caution regarding forward looking statements
Certain statements in this announcement, are, or may be deemed to be, forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ''believe'', ''could'', "should" ''envisage'', ''estimate'', ''intend'', ''may'', ''plan'', ''potentially'', "expect", ''will'' or the negative of those, variations or comparable expressions, including references to assumptions.
These forward looking statements are not based on historical facts but rather on the Directors' current expectations and assumptions regarding the Company's future growth, results of operations, performance, future capital and other expenditures (including the amount, nature and sources of funding thereof), competitive advantages, business prospects and opportunities. Such forward looking statements reflect the Directors' current beliefs and assumptions and are based on information currently available to the Directors.