08:00 Fri 24 Apr 2020
Petards Group PLC - COVID-19 Update
24 April 2020
PETARDS GROUP PLC ("Petards" or the "Group")
COVID-19 Update
Petards, the AIM quoted developer of advanced security and surveillance systems, issues the following COVID-19 update.
Business Operations
The priority of the Group remains the health and wellbeing of its staff, customers and their families during these unprecedented times and the Group is following government guidance on working practices to ensure their safety.
The Group's offices and facilities remain open and are operating effectively with a variety of safety measures to ensure social distancing and enhanced cleaning regimes. All members of staff who can work from home have been doing so since mid-March. For those staff who are unable to work from home the Group has extended the opening hours of its main facilities, thereby enabling overall on-site daily activity levels to be maintained.
Petards is a critical supplier to many of its customers and supports the
One of the Group's larger train building customers paused production at the end of March for just over two weeks, but has since recommenced production activities. While this will have a short-term impact, present indications are that this will be recovered over the course of the year.
RTS, which provides software solutions and services to support the
Activity levels at QRO, which supplies the Group's Traffic products, were higher than expected in the first quarter of 2020, with March's order intake from
The Group's Defence activities in 2020 have so far performed to management expectations, although there is a risk that usual engineering services provided to the MOD may reduce in the short term, with MOD project managers being redeployed to the MOD's COVID Support Force. Petards has been a long-standing supplier of communication equipment and related services to the MOD and was pleased its recent offer of support was accepted by the MOD. In conjunction with one of the Group's radio equipment partners, Petards is providing the free loan and technical support of 500 radios for 3 months to assist the COVID Support Force. These will be used by military personnel in their work, including supporting the new
The Group's supply chain is being closely monitored and has not experienced any significant issues to date. However, there is evidence that a few suppliers are switching some of their production to support the supply of medical products for the
Financial Position
Cash and cost management is always a key area of focus for the Board and is particularly so in the present environment. The Group's cash balances at
The Group is fortunate that its customer base comprises blue chip companies, the
The Board welcomes the
Results for the year ended
With the COVID-19 pandemic worsening, the Board is mindful of the
The Board anticipates that the full results will be consistent with the Group's Trading Update of
Outlook
The Company is unable to provide forward guidance in the present challenging circumstances, with the main uncertainty presently concerning the risk that, in the short term, contract awards that the Group was expecting to secure for revenue in 2020 may be re-phased or delayed. With the
The
Certain information contained in this announcement would have constituted inside information (as defined by Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014) ("MAR") prior to its release as part of this announcement and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.
Contacts:
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Mb: 07768 905 004 |
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Tel: 0117 945 3470 |
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Tel: 020 3764 2341 |
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