Center Parcs UK has confirmed it is considering developing a fifth holiday village and plans to leave AIM for the Official List as part of its plans for growth.

In a pre-year end trading statement released today, the group said it is looking at a number of growth opportunities including expanding its existing villages and developing a new site.

The company is ‘confident’ it will progress with ‘one or more of such growth opportunities’ during the coming year.

Capital expenditure financing for the expansion of the current villages is currently being negotiated.

Over the past year, the company has already invested in new facilities at both its Oasis Whinfell Forest village – new executive lodges, extended restaurant and sports offerings and a new Aqua Sana spa were completed by Easter 2004 – and its Longleat Forest site – additional villas and an enlarged spa are due for completion in the next few weeks.

The company has also announced that bookings have not been affected by the recent outbreak of a stomach bug at its Longleat site.

“In March this year, Center Parcs put out a statement following reports in the media of a virus at Longleat Village,” said a spokesperson.

“The associated costs were minimal and, as a result of the strength of the Center Parcs brand and the effective way in which the situation was dealt with, there has been no apparent impact on bookings.”

Centre Parcs’ results for the 20 weeks ending 22 April are expected to be in line with management expectations, with average occupancy for the full year a healthy 94 per cent.

“The group’s performance since the IPO in December has been strong,” said Martin Robinson, chair.

“We now have four fully operational sites, all of which are running at over 90 per cent occupancy and which have just undergone a number of expansion and improvement programmes which will create further growth.

“The Mintel report published in March confirms our belief that demand for short breaks in the UK continues to grow and we are working on a number of initiatives that will help us expand and allow us to fulfil that demand,” he said. Details: www.centerparcs.co.uk