TP Group awarded £0.9m defence research funding

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10 October 2018

TP Group plc

("TP Group" or the "Company" or the "Group")

TP Group awarded £0.9m defence research funding

TP Group (AIM: TPG), the specialist services and engineering group, announces the award of £0.9m in development funding from the UK Ministry of Defence ("MoD") under the Defence Growth Partnership Innovation Challenge, run by the Defence and Security Accelerator ("DASA").

TP Group will act as prime contractor and project leader to develop one of the Group's Artificial Intelligence ("AI") applications. The two year project will ultimately deliver a fully operational demonstrator against the requirements of a specific future naval application. TP Group will be supported by industrial partners Thales, the University of Exeter and application partners within the MoD.

This system uses advanced algorithms developed by Polaris Consulting, the Fareham company acquired by TP Group in December 2017, to optimise autonomous routing of unmanned vessels deployed on hazardous missions. Several prototypes have already been delivered with early stage funding from DASA, including a successful sea trial in the Solent in 2017. Other systems have demonstrated machine-learning capabilities that interpret text streams, and are suitable to assist intelligence officers in threat recognition, or incident investigators on complex equipment such as jet engines.

This funding provides a catapult to future application development, not limited to maritime vehicles. Discussions are already underway relating to unmanned air systems ("UAS") and other maritime uses, not exclusively unmanned, such as optimising maintenance visits for offshore wind farms.

Phil Cartmell, Chief Executive of TP Group, commented:

"This award is excellent news for the Polaris team and for the Group as a whole and highlights the value of our acquisition strategy to date where an SME with leading technical abilities can be supported by resources, relationships and processes from the wider Group to bring specialist technologies to market and generate real value.

"It is a reward for the hard work of the Technology and Innovation team in Fareham as their leadership in this exciting field matures into market leading technical products, with opportunities emerging in multiple sectors.

"This work will also strengthen our relationship with Thales as a key industrial partner as we work together to deliver the first mission system, and then collaborate on exploitation."

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Notes to Editors

TP Group designs and develops advanced technologies, engineers complex equipment and systems, and provides support throughout their operational life. The Company's shares have been traded on AIM since July 2001.