Petards Regulatory News (PEG)

26 May 2006 10:00

Petards Group PLC26 May 2006 Petards Group plc ("Petards") Board Changes and Notice of Results Petards, the AIM listed developer of advanced surveillance systems, announcesthat David Hayes, Chief Executive will be leaving the company with effect from31st May 2006. David joined the group in 2004 and was appointed Chief Executivein March 2005. During that time he has overseen a major restructuring of thebusiness and, through the acquisition of PI Vision in September 2005,established operations in the US. Since September David has been spending an increasing proportion of his time inthe US to ensure proper integration of the UK and US activities from both aproduct development and operations point of view. He will continue in aconsulting capacity with the group, in particular to help develop the group's USactivities. The Board is pleased to announce that it has appointed Bill Conn as ChiefExecutive with effect from 1st June 2006. Bill joined the group in September2004 as Managing Director of Petards Joyce-Loebl having previously held seniormanagement roles within Alstom, Siemens, Rolls Royce and British Aerospace. Hejoined the Petards Group board in February 2005. Under his stewardship theperformance of Petards Joyce-Loebl has improved significantly in both thedefence and rail sectors. In particular, it has become a leading supplier tothe rail CCTV market in the UK and Europe, securing contracts worth £7.5m overthe past year. It is now well positioned to take advantage of otheropportunities both in the rail and metro sectors. More recently it also secureda £0.9m contract for the supply of displays to a European rail customer. The group has undergone a transformation over the past year and will continue tomake operational improvements while investing further in sales and marketingboth in Europe and the US, where it sees excellent market opportunities overboth the short and medium term. It has contracted a Washington DC basedconsultancy to assist in winning US federal and state surveillance systemscontracts. In order to focus its resources, the group is continuing its drive for synergybetween its businesses, including EIMC, which was acquired earlier this year,where additional production resource is being directed to eliminate an orderbacklog. The group has further strengthened its senior sales team in the UK andthis has already led to an encouraging increase in the level of interest andenquiries for its surveillance solutions. Further integration of its productportfolio is planned, developing solutions for its customers in the security &surveillance and defence markets. Announcement of Preliminary Results The Company expects to announce its preliminary results for the year ended 31December 2005 on 13 June 2006. As we announced on 20 February 2006, theseresults will be broadly in line with market expectations. ENDS For further information, please contact: Petards Group plc www.petardsplc.netTim Wightman, Chairman Tel: 07711 089 813 Parkgreen Communications Tel: 020 7786 9600Paul McManus Mob: 07980 541 893 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange