Forestry re-think

16 January 1998

Forestry re-think

FOUNTAIN Forestry chairman Barry Gamble has renewed his call for a "shift in thinking" at the Forestry Commission.

Fountain handled transactions on 161,88ha (40,000 acres) last year, mostly in the US.

There is interest here, but the continuing moratorium on Forestry Commission sales has strangled and reduced liquidity in the UK market, says Mr Gamble.

In its first annual results since flotation on the Alternative Investment Market, Fountain Forestry Holdings posted pre-tax profits up 32% to £955,000 in the year to Sept 30, 1997.

Turnover, at £21.8m, was 16% higher – much of which resulted from the acquisition of Phoenix Landscapes, now renamed Foun-tain Landscapes.