Petards Regulatory News (PEG)

25 Mar 2008 09:34

Petards Group PLC25 March 2008 25 March 2008 Petards Group plc ("Petards" or "the Company") Pre-close period strategic review and trading update Petards, the AIM quoted developer of advanced surveillance systems, provides thefollowing update in respect of the year ended 31 December 2007, current tradingand progress in its strategic review prior to entering into the close period inrespect of the Company's preliminary results for the year ended 31 December2007. The Board expects to announce its preliminary results for the year ended 31December 2007 in mid-May and expects to report at that time results in line withthe Company's trading update of 20 December 2007. It also expects to report anet debt position that is lower than the £3m indicated last December. The Groupis in talks to re-negotiate the capital repayment schedule of its term loanfacilities and its bankers have indicated that it is their intention to renewits overdraft facilities at their existing levels. Trading update We are pleased to report that following the delays in order placementexperienced in 2007, many of the orders concerned have since been placed. Inthe six months ended 28 February 2008, the Group received orders for itscontinuing business (excluding UK Government and Commercial software) totalling£12.5m. It is expected that the majority of these orders will be deliveredduring the course of 2008. In addition to those announced last December, we have been awarded thefollowing: • A contract worth almost £1m to supply ProVida in-car Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) systems to a major overseas customer. • Orders together worth in excess of £1m for the supply and installation of eyeTrainTM on-board digital surveillance systems to Bombardier Transportation and for passenger information displays to Alstom Belgium. • Orders for £0.75m from the Ministry of Defence for radio systems and electronic countermeasures equipment to be fitted to rotary wing aircraft. • A $0.9m order for the UVMSTM video management system from a US casino customer. This is the first major order to be received since the inception of the Group's exclusive licencing agreement with BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies (BAE) and follows the award of a $1.1m order from Harrah's Cherokee Casino and Hotel announced at the end of last year. Strategic Review The Board announced last December that as a result of its review of futurestrategy it had sold its UK Government and Commercial software business to BAEfor a cash consideration of £2.5m. That business had been incurring losses andthe sale included the assignment of an onerous lease which had a residual termof almost nine years. The Board is continuing to actively pursue opportunities for other means ofmaximising shareholder value and will update shareholders as appropriate. For further information: Petards Group plc Collins Stewart Europe Limited Parkgreen CommunicationsAndy Wonnacott, Finance Director Mark Connelly Paul McManus Tel: 0845 002 0123 Tel: 020 7523 8350 Mob: 07980 541 893www.petards.com paul.mcmanus@parkgreenmedia.com END This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange