Notes to the Group Financial Statements (continued)
for the year ended 31st December 2012
16. Financial assets
Available-for-sale financial assets
2012 2011
£’000 £’000
Unquoted shares carried at cost less impairment of £345,000 (2011: £345,000) 148 1,097
Less: Reclassified as investments (see note below) – (750)
Unquoted shares at fair value 11,773 –
11,921 347
In 2011 the Directors have reclassified investment in TM Group (UK) Limited which had a carrying value of £750,000 at 31st December 2010 from
financial assets to investments in joint ventures.
Unquoted shares carried at cost
The financial assets are in unlisted equity instruments and these are carried at cost less any impairment as the market value cannot be reliably
measured.
Unquoted shares at fair value
In April 2012, the Group acquired a further 1.38% of Zoopla Group Limited (Zoopla) for £897,000. In August 2012, Zoopla merged with Digital
Property Group (DPG), owner of Findaproperty.com and Primelocation.com. As part of the merger, any warrants held in Zoopla were exercised so
that the Group now owns 4.81% of the post-merger entity.
At 31st December 2012, the Directors reviewed the fair value of Zoopla. Zoopla is a private company and so any assessment of fair value will be
judgmental. The price paid per share in April 2012 was £6.03 which the Directors have assessed to be fair value at 31st December 2012. This values
the combined Zoopla Group at £245m, with LSL Group’s share of this being £11.8m. This resulted in a £10.7m valuation uplift being recorded at
December 2012 on Zoopla shares with an original cost of £1.1m.
17. investments in joint ventures
2011 2011
£’000 £’000
Investment in joint ventures 2,313 1,768
The Group has a 33.33% interest in TM Group (UK) Limited, a jointly controlled entity whose principal activity is to provide property searches.
In July 2011, the Group also acquired a 33.33% interest in Cybele Solutions Holdings Limited (trading as Legal Marketing Services (LMS)) for a total
consideration of £671,000. In December 2012, the Group paid an additional £10,000 to increase its ownership interest to 33.82%. The principal
activity of LMS is to provide panel management of conveyancing services.
The share of the assets, liabilities, income and expenses of the jointly controlled entities at 31st December and for the years then ended are as
follows:
2012 2011
£’000 £’000
Share of the joint ventures’ balance sheets:
Non-current assets 995 978
Current assets 3,734 3,189
Current liabilities (2,333) (2,008)
Non-current liabilities (83) (391)
Share of net assets 2,313 1,768
88 ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2012