30th May 2012 10:30
30 May 2012
21st Century Technology plc
("21st Century", "the Company" or "the Group")
AGM Trading Update
21st Century, the supplier and installation service provider of public transport CCTV and vehicle monitoring systems is holding its Annual General Meeting today at 10.30 am at The National Control Centre, Drake Road, Mitcham, Surrey, CR4 4HQ.
Chairman, Jan Holmstrom, will make the following statement:
"As the Preferred Supplier for on bus CCTV to Arriva UK Bus, FirstGroup UK Bus and The Go-Ahead Group we maintain our strong position in the market. For the five months to 31 May 2012, combined sales to these three operators are expected to be £4.2m (72%) out of £5.8m expected total sales for the same period. Much of this UK business was accelerated as a result of new buses coming into service ahead of the Olympics and the sales of on board CCTV for the Olympic buses are now complete. Our Preferred Supplier status with Arriva has been established for many years, the contract for FirstGroup was awarded in October last year and our contract with Go Ahead, is due to be retendered during the summer this year.
"In the first five months of this year we have won new contracts worth in excess of £4.6m, which include orders in new business areas - passenger counting systems and on train CCTV. Approximately 80% of the sales from these new contracts is expected to be invoiced in the second half of the year. We also have a number of new sales opportunities in the UK and mainland Europe where dialogue with the customers is at an advanced stage. These existing prospects could add over £4.0m to sales in the second half of the year.
"We are currently trading in line with expectations and, while the full year profit expectation is skewed toward the second half of the year, we have an order book and sales prospects in hand which give us reason to be confident that we will reach the market expectations for the full year.
"Cash reserves of £2.8m at 31 December 2011 were boosted by the disposal of the Group's freehold head office premises in January 2012 for £2.3m. At the Annual General Meeting today a resolution will be proposed to approve the distribution to shareholders of the cash surplus of approximately £3.2m. This will be by way of a capital reduction of 3.5p per share. Should momentum of trading continue at current levels the Board will consider a further distribution by way of dividend in the next 12 months."
Ends
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Notes to editors:
21st Century Technology plc (AIM: C21), a leading supplier of public transport CCTV and other monitoring systems, was admitted to trading on AIM, a market operated by the London Stock Exchange, in 2005.
21st Century is the preferred supplier of on-board CCTV systems for Arriva UK Bus, the Go-Ahead Group, FirstGroup UK Bus and Keolis Sverige AB in Stockholm.
The Company has pioneered the use of WiFi with on-board CCTV systems and Transport for London commissioned the Company to undertake a trial of 'LiveView' - a system which transmits live CCTV pictures from on board the bus to a public transport and police control centre. 21st Century was also the first company to successfully launch Automatic Video Downloads and a bus CCTV monitoring system (HeartbeatTM) which allow the CCTV manager to remotely download CCTV footage from the bus to his computer and check that all the CCTV systems fitted to his buses are fully operational, without leaving his desk. The company's passenger counting systems utilise active infrared sensors at every exit/entry point or overhead cameras linked to the ticket machine to enable bus operators to analyse specific bus route ticket sales and passenger numbers.
21st Century's EcoManager product has made a significant contribution to sales since its launch in July 2008. The EcoManager black-box system is aimed at reducing fuel and maintenance costs, reducing emissions and improving safety for bus operators by monitoring individual driving styles. Following a successful trial in 2009, Arriva UK committed to install the device on all their new buses and to retrofit a large proportion of their existing fleet. Later that year Arriva North West and Merseytravel won the industry recognised Alexander Dennis Award for Innovation following their installation of the EcoManager system which yielded fuel savings of up to 12%, associated CO2 emission reductions and a 62% reduction in accidents. This was followed in 2010 with a driver safety award for EcoManager presented by the road safety charity, Brake and in 2011; Arriva Wirral was presented with the Environmental Award by Wirral Investment Network in recognition of the environmental benefits achieved by the company as a result of the installation of EcoManager to its fleet of buses. For further information go to www.getecomanager.com.
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