But even if the explosive growth of property as an investment class is unwound partially, rent increases ought to come through for Workspace in the coming year, thanks to the release of properties it has been refurbishing. This ought also to push up the occupancy rate.With the South-east England economy still bright, and the Government aiding small businesses, Workspace looks set fair for continued growth. Buy.Plastic is strong but the outlook weak at 3DMAfter necking a couple of aspirin and wrapping a cold towel round our head, we dived into 3DM Worldwide’s annual results yesterday. The company has developed a revolutionary moulding process that uses recycled material and makes a plastic as strong as steel.It has also developed a complex web of relationships with associated companies, many of which share directors and investors, which is impossible to understand fully from the published information. And the nearest 3DM’s technology seems to be to use in housing is a “sample house” being built in Michigan by Mr DiNello himself.Mr Brooks argues that a web of deals with enthusiastic licensees is the fastest way to get a new technology to market. But with yet another partner company created yesterday, and the financial relationship between it and 3DM still to be decided, the picture is getting only cloudier Like the outlook for the shares Sell.. The Government yesterday gave the green light to Las Vegas-style leisure and gaming resorts in Britain, allowing casinos with up to 1,250 slot machines, with unlimited prizes, in regional centres in need of regeneration.
But while the relaxation of the UK’s arcane gambling laws has been welcomed widely by the gaming industry, the Government has not entirely opened the gates to wanton gambling on every street corner. Limits have been put on the number and type of slot machines to be installed in these super casinos, as well as limits on existing, smaller gambling outlets. This has left gaming companies from both the UK and US still hedging their bets over whether the deregulation amounts to hitting the jackpot. Investment plans of as much as £3bn have been mooted for building regional casinos in Britain’s footballing towns.
LVSI has already signed a deal with Glasgow Rangers and Sheffield United football clubs to develop casinos and leisure centres in their grounds. These two developments alone amount to some £200m of investments and will create around 4,000 jobs More deals are being negotiated. But the Government’s limit of 1,250 slot machines in UK “regional casinos” is not quite big enough. It said yesterday that this cap would threaten its “multibillion-pound” investment plans.There has been no in-depth research undertaken which shows that restricting machine numbers does anything to reduce problem gambling,” said Rodney Brody, the head of LVSI’s UK operations.MGM MirageUnder Terry Lanni, its chairman and chief executive, the owner of the Bellagio in Las Vegas has been one of the most vocal about the opportunities for the UK market. In April, it announced a strategic alliance with Peel Holdings, the private landowner, to pursue the potential development of several multipurpose leisure and gaming complexes in Liverpool, Manchester, Salford and Glasgow – an investment of about £650m.
It has also signed a deal for land adjoining St James’s Park, Newcastle United’s football stadium. The proposals to allow regional casinos have dealt MGM a strong hand, although again, like Las Vegas Sands, it says the 1,250 limit will curtail its investment in the UK.Lloyd Nathan, the managing director of MGM’s European development division, said, “Regional casinos with a wide variety of non-gaming attractions can provide a unique leisure and entertainment experience, and can contribute significantly to long-term benefits such as jobs, training, new investment, and economic benefits. Most of the amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals would crash to extinction about the same time. Next would go the bulk of the flowering plants and with them the physical structure of most forests and other terrestrial habitats of the world.
