19th Sep 2019 11:52
(Alliance News) - Petards Group PLC on Thursday expressed confidence for the reminder of 2019 despite a significant reduction in first half profit.
The security systems developer said pretax profit for the six months to the end of June declined to GBP206,000 from GBP514,000 reported a year ago, as revenue fell by 8.5% to GBP8.9 million from GBP9.7 million.
Petards reported strong revenue performance for Rail and Traffic products with both up 40% over the first half of 2018, but lower Defence activity levels, which slowed in the second half of 2018 and further weakened in 2019.
Looking ahead, Petards said it continues to benefit from a good order book which at June 30 included revenue of almost GBP7 million for the second half of 2019. This has been supplemented by orders received since June, the majority of which will benefit 2020, the company noted.
"The group continues to secure the majority of opportunities available to it, although more recently the timing of expected orders has been later than originally envisaged," said Chair Raschid Abdullah.
He added: "The board remains confident in the group's future prospects and expects to return a satisfactory, albeit lower than previously anticipated, performance for 2019 weighted towards the second half of the year."
Petards shares were trading 14% lower in London on Thursday at 16.70 pence each.
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