TPG.L Regulatory News (TPG)

26 January 2021

TP Group plc("TP Group" or the "Company" or the "Group")

Trading update

TP Group (AIM: TPG), the providers of mission-critical solutions for a more secure world, announces the following trading update for the year ended 31 December 2020.

The Board would like to thank all our management and staff for their continued sterling efforts during these most difficult times.

The Covid-19 pandemic has and continues to influence some of our global and domestic projects due to ongoing travel restrictions which have impacted both the supply chain and customer engagement. This has inevitably had an effect on margins during the financial year within certain programmes across the Group, as reported in the interim results. The Company did see improvement to both gross profit and adjusted operating profit margins, from continuing operations, during the second half of 2020. Unaudited revenues for the year are expected to be c.£58.0 million (2019: £58.2 million), with unaudited adjusted operating profit of c.£3.8 million (2019: £5.9 million). The Company drew down £7.0 million of the HSBC bank facility, which was used for the acquisition of Osprey Consulting (c.£2.5 million), as well as managing working capital on key programs impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Company closed the year with a cash balance of c.£7.4 million after this draw down.

Business activity was robust in the last quarter of 2020 and this has continued in the early weeks of 2021 to provide a solid platform for the year ahead. The Board is pleased to report a forward order book growing year-on-year to c.£69.0 million (2019: £63.8 million).

All financial data presented here refers to continuing operations, including the activity for Group's business in Portsmouth.

New programs include advanced carbon dioxide removal systems for a large engineering prime contractor in South East Asia. In Artificial Intelligence, we are delivering autonomous path planning on an unmanned submarine in coastal waters in the absence of GPS positioning for the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA), working with the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), whilst the Consulting team has extended their client side support work on a strategic satellite communications programme.

TP Group has also secured additional relationships within the renewable energy sector, linking up with rail and air transport operators and industrial energy system providers to define new solutions in those markets. In Europe, TP Group has extended its activities further beyond European Space Agency programmes to the European Patent Office and European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS). The Consulting business is building upon the acquisition of Osprey Consulting with air safety management consulting work in Scotland, helping to assure safer air travel for 1.7m passengers per year across eleven airports and also securing an initial contract in Europe for 5G deployment on-board trains, which is our first step into the exciting field of 5G consulting.

Outlook

The Board remains confident that the strategy to focus on delivering consulting, digital solutions, advanced technology and bespoke engineering to critical programs in the global defence, space and energy markets provides resilience for the future. The Company will continue to pursue opportunities to develop the business through organic growth and added value acquisitions whilst identifying people or groups of distinctive talents.

It is expected that the Company's audited results will be announced in May 2021.

The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

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Notes to Editors

TP Group delivers complex equipment, software and services for mission, business and safety critical applications in the defence, space and energy sectors. With more than 400 people in 6 European countries, it serves global customers through long-term contracts. The Group's shares have been traded on AIM since July 2001.