Partial disposal of Aukett + Heese Frankfurt GmbH

Built Cybernetics (AIM:BUC), the smart buildings group, is pleased to announce that it has signed a binding agreement to sell half its interest in the smaller of its two German architecture investments, Aukett + Heese Frankfurt GmbH ("AHF"), for a cash consideration of €250,000 (approx £214,000).

Background

The Company established a Berlin practice, Aukett + Heese GmbH, in 1992. It owns 25% of that business, with the 75% majority stake owned by Lutz Heese, a Munich-based architect who was a director of the Company from 2004 to 2010. In 2001 the Company and Mr Heese and established AHF as a 50-50 joint venture.

These investments are consolidated in the Group's financial statements as non-current assets reflecting the net assets of the offices at the balance sheet date, with the Group's share of the results of the offices reflected in the consolidated income statement.

As reported in the Group's interim results for the six months ended 31 March 2026 the accounting carrying value of the stake in the Frankfurt office was £300,000.

During that six month period the Group recognised a profit from the share of results of associate and joint ventures of £54,000 from the Frankfurt office (Year to 30 Sep 2025: £57,000).

Revenue less subconsultant costs recorded by the Frankfurt office in the six month period to 31 March 2026 was £683,000 (Year to 30 Sep 2025: £1,136,000).

During the six months ended 31 March 2026 the Company received management charges of £24,000 (€27,000) from Frankfurt. The Company also received dividends (net of 5% deduction for Geman witholdings tax) of £42,000 (€47,500) (Year to 30 Sep 2025: £41,000).

From 1 April 2026 to date the Company has received further dividends of £82,000 (€95,000) from Frankfurt.

Sale

The Company and Mr Heese have agreed to put AHF on the same ownership basis as the larger Berlin practice. To that end the Company has agreed to sell Mr Heese 25% of AHF for a cash consideration of €250,000 (£214,000). Reciept of funds is expected in the coming weeks once notarisation formalities are complete. While the disposal will reduce the share of future dividends from the Frankfurt office the Company will continue to receive 50% of the management charge from both the Berlin and Frankfurt offices.

Gain on disposal

The Company expects to recognise accounting profits of approximately £78,000 in the Group consolidated financial statements on this transaction.

The cash proceeds will be deployed in development of the Group's smart buildings activities.

Comments

Nick Clark, Chief Executive, commented:

"Aukett + Heese Frankfurt has been a useful contributor to the Group's performance for over a quarter of a century, and we particularly thank its Managing Director and the workforce for their ongoing efforts. It is though not a large business and we are pleased that our longstanding partner Lutz Heese has afforded us an opportunity to reallocate capital to our smart buildings businesses, where we can grow recurring revenues that scale faster than headcount."