Tanfield Regulatory News (TAN)

13 Jun 2007 07:01

Tanfield Group PLC13 June 2007 The Tanfield Group Plc ("Tanfield" or "the Group") CONTRACT WIN Tanfield is pleased to announce that Smith Electric Vehicles has won its firstcontract from the Royal Mail for its next generation zero emission vehicles. The Royal Mail has ordered one of each of the Edison and Newton higher functiondelivery vehicles, for trials. The vehicles will be deployed in London, inparcel and post distribution operations. Edison is a sub-3.5t electric van, built using the Ford Transit shell. Newton issold in 7.5t and 9t configurations. Both vehicles have restricted top speeds ofup to 50mph and are capable of covering 150 miles on one battery charge. Royal Mail has a fleet of over 33,000 commercial delivery vehicles operatingacross the UK, including approximately 10,700 3.5t vans and van derivatives,plus 2,500 7.5t trucks. In line with a growing order book and increased interest in both Newton andEdison, Tanfield is installing extra electric vehicle production capacity atVigo Centre, its 250,000sq ft assembly facility in Tyne & Wear, UK. Darren Kell, Chief Executive of The Tanfield Group Plc, said: "We are delightedto have sold our first vehicles into the Royal Mail. The adoption of the LowEmission Zone in London and expected road pricing in 10 other urban conurbationsacross the UK will significantly increase the addressable market for electricvehicles. To this end, we are now installing additional production capability ata much faster rate than we had previously planned. For further information: The Tanfield Group Plc Tel: +44(0)845 1557 755 Darren Kell, Chief Executive dan.jenkins@tanfieldgroup.com Charles Brooks, Finance Director Fishburn Hedges Tel: +44(0)20 7839 4321 Morgan Bone Mob: +44(0) 7767 622 967 James Benjamin Mob: +44(0) 7747 113 930 tanfield@fishburn-hedges.co.uk St. Helen's Capital plc Tel: +44(0)20 7628 5582 Ruari McGirr Cenkos Securities plc Tel: +44(0)20 7397 8900 Stephen Keys website: www.tanfieldgroup.co.uk Notes to editorsThe Tanfield Group Plc is the world's leading developer and manufacturer ofroad-going commercial electric vehicles and aerial work platforms. Tanfield isheadquartered in Newcastle with operations in the USA and Japan. It has two maindivisions: Smith Electric Vehicles, was founded in 1920 and acquired by Tanfield in October2004. Since its acquisition, Smith is developing into a world leader in newtechnology electric vans and trucks with greatly enhanced performance, speed andrange capabilities. This makes them attractive for all fleet operators in largetowns, cities and closed industrial environment. For the first time, these fleetoperators have an economically viable, zero emission alternatives to usingdiesel vans and trucks. Smith has an unrivalled UK-wide service and supportnetwork, which already maintains over 5,000 vehicles for major fleet operators.This core element of the business is beginning to fulfil its potential in termsof addressing the requirements of large urban fleet operators, who want toreduce their operational costs and more importantly, greatly reduce their carbonfootprint. Smith's airport offering is complemented by two specialist airportvehicle sub-divisions; Jumbotugs and Norquip. www.smithelectricvehicles.com UpRight Powered Access, is firmly established as the UK's biggest manufacturerof self-propelled aerial work platforms (such as "cherry-pickers", "scissorlifts", "trailer mounts", etc) and UpRight is globally one of the industry'sstrongest aerial lift brands in what is a $7bn market. UpRight has assemblyfacilities in the UK and USA, plus a wholly-owned subsidiary in Japan. Productsare sold through a strong global network of over 150 independent, full-servicedistributors across Europe, North America, Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions.Tanfield has been successful in extending the UpRight product range andachieving significant increases in average weekly order intake, boosted in partby working at height regulations. www.upright.com www.aerialaccess.co.uk - ENDS - This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange