Tanfield Regulatory News (TAN)

14 Jan 2008 07:00

Tanfield Group PLC14 January 2008 Tanfield Group plc (the "Company") Re: Share Price Movement The Directors note the recent movement in the Company's share price and confirmthat they know of no reason for this. December was a record month for Tanfield in terms of order intake and the orderbook is ahead of management's expectations. The Company is enjoying a strongstart to 2008, with production capacity and output also ahead of plan. Zero Emission Vehicles Division The order book for the Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEV) division, including SmithElectric Vehicles, is extremely healthy and the Directors reiterate theirconfirmation that trading is in line with expectations. Production capacity hasramped up to 30 units per week, as planned, and the Company is pleased to reportthat firm orders have already been received for a significant proportion of themarket forecast production for electric vehicles for the year. The Company did not experience any execution problems in increasing ZEVproduction capacity from 10 to 30 vehicles per week and the Directors are,therefore, confident that further capacity growth is achievable due to thescalable production methodology now developed. The Directors remain confidentthat the Company's supply chain will grow to meet this capacity. This risemirrors the successful ramp up of UpRight Powered Access delivered in 2007, whenthe Company, and its supply chain, grew production at Vigo Centre from 20 aerialwork platforms per week to 200 per week. Tanfield has now developed and validated lithium-ion phosphate battery packsfrom a number of suppliers, providing the strong supply chain base required tomeet growing customer demand for road-going commercial electric vehicles. Thisnew generation technology is proving extremely reliable and robust and theDirectors believe that the added flexibility in terms of how it is packaged onthe chassis will open an even broader market for the Company's vehicles. Powered Access Division The traditional buying season for aerial work platforms is underway in NorthAmerica and sales are brisk. Order intake for Snorkel is significantly ahead ofthe orders booked in the comparable period last year. The Directors are pleasedto report that the January order book is the highest it has been for the pastfour consecutive years and that the Company has forward sold the next sixmonths' production capacity. This further underlines the Directors' confidencein delivering on their growth plan for the Powered Access Division. Sales of powered access equipment remain strong across all other keyterritories, including Europe, Scandinavia, the Middle East and Asia-Pacificregions, with the emerging markets of Eastern Europe, Russia and the Middle Eastdemonstrating particularly strong growth. www.tanfieldgroup.co.uk For further information: The Tanfield Group Plc Tel: +44(0)845 1557 755Darren Kell, Chief ExecutiveCharles Brooks, Finance Director Fishburn Hedges Tel: +44(0)20 7839 4321Morgan Bone/James Benjamin Mob: +44(0) 7767 622 967/+44(0) 7747 113 930tanfield@fishburn-hedges.co.uk Cenkos Securities plc Tel: +44(0)20 7397 8900Stephen Keys St. Helen's Capital plc Tel: +44(0)20 7628 5582Seb WykehamRuari McGirr Notes to editors The 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 both the North America and EMEAregions. It has two main divisions: Smith Electric Vehicles, was founded in 1920 and acquired by Tanfield in October2004. Following its acquisition, Smith is developing into a world leader in newtechnology electric vans and trucks with greatly enhanced performance, speedand range capabilities. This makes them attractive for all fleet operators inlarge towns, cities and closed industrial environment. For the first time, thesefleet operators have 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 Powered Access, contains two of the world's most established aerial workplatform brands, UpRight Powered Access and Snorkel International. UpRight isfirmly established as the UK's biggest manufacturer of self-propelled aerialwork platforms (also known as "cherry-pickers", "mobile elevating workplatforms", "aerial lifts", etc). UpRight has assembly facilities in the UK andUSA, with products sold through a strong network of over 180 independent,full-service distributors across Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacificregions. Snorkel, acquired in July 2007, has significant manufacturingcapabilities along with strong sales and distribution, in the USA andAustralasia. Tanfield has been successful in extending its powered accessproduct range and is now one of only three "full line" aerial lift manufacturersto have a significant assembly footprint in both the North America and EMEAregions, in what is a $7bn global market. www.upright.com / www.snorkelusa.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange