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Yorkcor - Further Cautionary Announcement

Release Date: 11/02/2002 16:48
Code(s): YRK
Wrap Text
The York Timber Organisation Limited
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
(Registration number 1916/004890/06)
Share code YRK   ISIN ZAE000008108
("Yorkcor" or "the company")
Further Cautionary Announcement

Shareholders are referred to Yorkcor's announcement on 25 January 2002 advising them of the notice received on 11 December 2001 by York Timbers Ltd ("York"), the main operating subsidiary of Yorkcor, of termination of York's `evergreen' sawlog supply contract in respect of three plantations which have supplied the group's York Lumber sawmill near Bushbuckridge since 1970. This notice was received from the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry ("DWAF").
Negotiations for the quantification and payment of compensation in terms of the contract continue. Yorkcor has obtained an opinion from professional experts of international standing regarding an estimated valuation of its claim for compensation. Their estimate of the compensation is substantially higher than the offer already received in writing from DWAF. The contract stipulates that an arbitrator will determine the amount of compensation if consensus cannot be reached between the parties.
Additionally, Yorkcor has deemed it necessary to apply to the High Court in Pretoria for a contempt of court order against the Minister of Water Affairs & Forestry and the Director-General of DWAF. According to the papers filed in the Pretoria High Court against the two DWAF representatives, an Order of Court directed DWAF to comply with Yorkcor's evergreen contract, `by
ensuring the plantations shall always be diligently and exclusively devoted to softwood afforestation.' It was also directed to make particularised offers of `the entire volume which will be available from normal
silvicultural operations' in successive periods of five years. Detailed standards of silviculture are spelt out in the evergreen contract and the Orders of Court. Yorkcor contends that the Department has been persistently in default despite the former's continuing calls for proper performance. The Government tendered an offer in this regard on 25 January 2002. The offer, purportedly in terms of the evergreen contract, is for the supply a minimum volume of sawlogs until December 2006. Yorkcor regards the offer as defective in a number of material respects and consequently in breach of the contract.
The application for commital of the Minister and the Director-General of DWAF is set down for hearing tomorrow, 12 February 2002. The main thrust of the action is to activate a remedy against the continuing omissions or failures to take the necessary steps to honour a series of several long outstanding Orders of the High Court, as well as two judgments by the Supreme Court of Appeal in December 2000.
Shareholders are advised to exercise caution in dealing their shares until a further announcement is made. PRETORIA 11 FEBRUARY 2002 SPONSOR SASFIN BANK LIMITED (Registration number 1951/002280/06)

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