SPOKANE, Wash., April 16, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ambassadors Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:EPAX) (the "Company"), a leading provider of educational travel experiences, today announced that it is publicly listing for sale its corporate headquarters in Spokane, Washington. The Company's real estate broker, Goodale & Barbieri Company, is assisting in the promotion, marketing and sale of the building.
Under a plan approved by Ambassadors Group's board of directors and management team, the Company is pursuing the sale of its 133,000 square-foot facility and the surrounding property. Once the sale is completed, the Company expects to relocate the headquarters to a smaller, leased location in Spokane, Washington.
"Our current building is a beautiful facility, and the campus made sense for us when we began construction in 2006," said Jeff Thomas, President and CEO of Ambassadors Group. "However, given the scope of our current business, we engaged Goodale & Barbieri Company in April of 2011 to help us look for ways to creatively use the space and maximize the value of the property. Over the last year we actively sought tenants for part of the space, looked at sale-leaseback opportunities, and rented to a third party a portion of our light manufacturing floor space that was shut down when we outsourced our printing operations. Our advisors have also been working on helping us position the property for sale."
Mr. Thomas continued, "We believe the Spokane real estate market has begun to stabilize and we are confident that now is the right time to publicly market the building as we have already received some initial indications of interest. The sale of the corporate headquarters is consistent with actions we have taken to right size our business and would enable us to monetize an underutilized asset and strengthen the Company's financial condition. We will continue to maintain our strong presence in Spokane and remain an active member of the community."
The Company expects that a sale would result in a significant cash transaction and an ongoing reduction in facility costs, maintenance expense, and depreciation. The amount of the impact will depend on the ultimate sales price and the terms of any lease of new space. The facility is located at 2001 South Flint Road in Spokane, Washington right near the Spokane International Airport.
Questions regarding this matter should be directed to Anthony Dombrowik, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Ambassadors Group, Inc. at (509)568-7800. Inquiries of interest about the building can be directed to David Peterson of Goodale & Barbieri Company at (509)999-9320 or dpeterson@g-b.com.
About Ambassadors Group, Inc.
Ambassadors Group Inc. (Nasdaq:EPAX) is a socially conscious, education company located in Spokane, Washington. Ambassadors Group, Inc. is the parent company of Ambassador Programs, Inc., World Adventures Unlimited, Inc., and BookRags, Inc., an educational research website. The Company also oversees the Washington School of World Studies, an accredited travel study and distance learning school. Additional information about Ambassadors Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries is available at www.ambassadorsgroup.com. In this press release, "Company", "we", "us", and "our" refer to
Ambassadors Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries.
The Ambassadors Group, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=3541
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains statements that are not historical in nature. These statements are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (in each case as amended). Statements that include the words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "projects", "estimates", "plans", "may" and similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as "will", "should", "would", "may" and "could" are generally forward−looking in nature and not historical facts. These forward-looking statements reflect the Company's beliefs or current expectations with respect to, among other things, the sale of its corporate headquarters, the consideration received for such sale, the impact of such sale on costs, expenses and depreciation and the real estate market and availability of office space in Spokane, Washington. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward−looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and factors include the risk factors set forth in Item 1A of the Company's 2011 Annual Report filed on March 12, 2012 with the SEC on form 10-K and available at their website www.sec.gov. These risks, along with other factors, may be identified from time to time in the Company's filings with the SEC and in its public announcements. All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by these factors and all related cautionary statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which that statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. You should understand that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance or results and are preliminary in nature. You are urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures made by the Company in its reports filed with the SEC.