Cohort Regulatory News (CHRT)

7 Apr 2009 07:00



07 April 2009

COHORT PLC

MASS SELECTED AS PREFERRED BIDDER ON A BUILDING SCHOOLS FOR THE FUTURE (BSF) PROJECT

Cohort plc, the independent technology group, today announces that its wholly-owned subsidiary, MASS Consultants Limited, as part of a consortium led by May Gurney Integrated Services plc, has been selected as the preferred bidder to provide new and refurbished schools for North Lincolnshire Council under the government's Building Schools for the Future Programme. The consortium will now enter into discussions to finalise detailed terms of the contract and work is currently expected to begin in the second half of 2009.

MASS will provide and integrate a range of ICT equipment, networks and software for these schools, and a managed service for its support and maintenance. MASS already provides this type of service to a range of government and private sector clients. The contract value for MASS is expected to exceed £10m over 7 years.

Stanley Carter, Chief Executive said: "This is an important and encouraging step for MASS who is an integral part of the consortium.  We now need to finalise the detail with North Lincolnshire Council on the facilities and services that they need, and we look forward to a long and successful relationship with them."

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NOTES TO EDITORS

MASS is bidding alongside May Gurney Integrated Services plc and NPS Property Consultants Ltd for the North Lincolnshire BSF programme, which will cover a number of new build and refurbishment projects for secondary schools in the Scunthorpe area.

Cohort plc (www.cohortplc.com) is a technology group working primarily for defence (air, land and sea), wider government and industry clients, through three market-facing subsidiary companies:

MASS (www.mass.co.uk) - a specialist defence and aerospace systems developer focused mainly on Electronic Warfare, Information Systems, Managed Services and Secure Communications. Acquired by Cohort in August 2006.

SCS (www.scs-ltd.co.uk) - an independent defence consultancy, combining technical expertise with practical experience and domain knowledge.

SEA (www.sea.co.uk) - an advanced surveillance systems and software house with hardware development capability operating in the defence, space, transport and offshore market sectors. Acquired by Cohort in October 2007.

Cohort (AIM: CHRT) was admitted to London's Alternative Investment Market in March 2006. It has its headquarters in Oxfordshire and, through its operating companies, employs in total around 500 staff there and at bases in Bristol, Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire, Lincolnshire and Somerset.