Newmark Security PLC (LON:NWT), a provider of electronic and physical security systems, remains confident of announcing new contract wins in the near future.
In its results for the six months to the end of October, the group admitted market conditions remained challenging, with a solid increase in revenues from the electronics division offset by a decline in the asset protection division’s turnover, where, as anticipated, sales of time-delay cash handling equipment to the Post Office declined.
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Group revenue from continuing operations eased to £8.2mln from £8.3mln the year before.
The electronics division’s contribution fell 7.6% to £4.3mln from £4.6mln in the corresponding period of 2016, but the asset protection unit took up the slack, with revenue rising 5.9% to £3.74mln from £3.96mln the previous year.
Trading conditions remained challenging for the electronics division as the continuing economic uncertainty has resulted in budget cuts and cancellation of planned work by several customers, including the government departments that Newmark has traditionally supplied.
The group responded to the constrained circumstances by implementing cost-saving initiatives, both in the reporting period and since the end of October.
As the JANUS range rides off into the sunset, customers are switching to Sateon
In the electronics division, the group is “sunsetting” its legacy JANUS range, which runs on the no longer supported 32-bit version of Windows, and migrating customers to its Sateon range.
Revenues from JANUS fell 35% from the preceding six months to £335,000 but Sateon access control revenue continued to grow strongly, rising 23% year-on-year to £1.3mln.
The loss from operations before exceptional items narrowed to £328,000 from £649,000 the year before.
The loss per share was 0.1p, versus a loss of 0.14p a share in the same period in 2016.
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"The group was pleased to announce in November 2017 new ongoing supply agreements with WorkForce Software, LLC and its UK subsidiary,” said Maurice Dwek, the chairman of Newmark.
“Grosvenor Technology will supply WorkForce Software globally, through sales and leasing, with its IT51 Linux-based workforce management terminal, which is expected to benefit revenue in future years,” Dwek noted.
"Also in November, it was announced that Grosvenor Technology had won a new contract with a leading European workforce management provider under which Grosvenor Technology will provide a Linux based OEM [original equipment manufacturer] variant of its GT-10 workforce management terminal in addition to a range of cloud-based support services on a SaaS basis. Grosvenor Technology will also provide an OEM variant of its Sateon Advance Access Control Hardware, to work with the partner's existing software platform,” the Newmark chairman added.
"The group anticipates making further announcements of similar new contracts in the near future, and these together with the two contracts referred to above are expected to improve results in future years," Dwek said.
Shares in Newmark were down 0.1p to 0.95p.