3rd Sep 2014 07:50
LONDON (Alliance News) - Petards Group PLC shares rose in early trade on Wednesday after the company said it swung to profit in the first half as revenue doubled, and expressed optimism on its prospects for the full year and beyond.
The security and surveillance systems developer saw its shares rise 9.1% to 15 pence in early trade, putting it among the top five risers on the AIM All-Share index, after it said pretax profit in the six months to June 30 hit GBP273,000, compared with a GBP338,000 loss in the year-earlier period.
Revenue doubled to GBP7.2 million, from GBP3.6 million a year earlier, while its order book is still in excess of GBP20 million and it expects that more than one-third of this will be delivered by the end of this year.
In the first half, the firm secured a GBP1.5 million contract from Siemens AG to provide its eyeTrain CCTV systems on high-speed trains the German group is building for the Turkish State Railway. It also won a GBP4.5 million deal from the UK Ministry of Defence related to a modification programme for countermeasures equipment.
The group also said it has won an extension to an enabling contract from the MoD to supply private mobile radio equipment, ancillaries and engineering services. The contract was originally awarded in 2013. Petards said it expects revenue from the new two-year contract to be in line with the previous deal at over GBP0.5 million per year. The MoD also has the option to extend the contract for a further two years.
"The board is confident about the group's prospects for the second half and beyond as whilst there is still work to be done this year in closing out new business, the present order book already provides a strong base going forward into 2015," said Raschid Abdullah, Chairman of Petards.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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