AceShowbiz - Nicola Roberts has reassured Girls Aloud fans the five-piece will reunite later this year, amid fervent speculation their ongoing hiatus will become permanent. The U.K.'s biggest girl group has taken a 12-month break to concentrate on individual projects, but the singers have been dogged by split rumors after they extended their time away from the band.

However, Roberts is adamant they are all planning to reform soon. She tells British morning show GMTV, "Well we're still all on our little break so we're all doing our own thing. Our break hasn't been up yet - we were supposed to have a year off so at the end of the year we'll start to regroup and talk about the future plans. But at the moment we're all dabbling in different things."

Roberts also addressed reports that bandmember Nadine Coyle, who is about to embark on a solo career, has decided to quit the line-up. She adds, "I think (the rumors are) one of those things that as a band we've always had from day one and at the moment it seems to be very prominent. We were in the band a day and we had a press conference and they asked when Nadine was leaving the band. I think it's very deflating for the fans but we tend to not take it on board too much."