Quintain confident of casino go-ahead

QUINTAIN Estates and Development is confident of winning Government approval to build a new super-casino at Wembley.

Nick Shattock, Quintain's property director, said he was 'OKî with the Government's latest backtracking on the number of large casinos it would allow nationwide, down to eight at the last count.

He said: 'If it is eight there is just a bigger prize to be chased.î

Quitain unveiled plans in October to build a £335 million gambling and leisure resort on land it owns near the new Wembley stadium in a joint venture with Las Vegas casino owner Caesars Entertainment.

Quintain chief executive Adrian Wyatt, meanwhile, said the company was being approached by local authorities and other property owners around the country to help on 'large-scale transactions where we can bring our urban regeneration skillsî potentially worth hundreds of millions of pounds.

Their comments coincided with Quintain's release of figures showing pre-tax profit down 31% to £5m for the half-year to 30 September, after taking a £2m charge for a £475m debt refinancing to help pay for its ambitious development programme.

A string of planning approvals over the period both for Wembley, where it is building 3700 homes on 42 acres of land, and its Greenwich peninsula project, boosted land values for both sites.

Wembley's value rose £42m to £167.5m while Greenwich rose £9m to ££109m. Quintain's net asset value per share rose to 406p from 349p a year ago.