Petards Group PLC (LON:PEG) shares rallied a little on Friday as the security and surveillance systems provider emphasised the stability of its contracts with the police, armed forces and railways.
The AIM-quoted group’s order book was £13.2mln at the end of March, down from around £15mln at the end of December.
The company, which in February warned that it expected to report a loss before tax for 2019 due to various rail projects, has pushed back the announcement of its 2019 results until the end of May.
Most clients were said to be operating at the same activity levels as before the coronavirus crisis, though “this does vary from customer to customer”.
While a larger train-building customer recently paused production for just over two weeks, but has since restarted production, with the short-term impact that should be recovered over the course of the year.
Rail-focused RTS is hoping to close a four-year contract extension that would result in the division achieving its budgeted revenue for the year, while field service engineers at traffic-focused QRO have been designated as critical workers amid strong levels of orders from UK police forces since March.
Although it was unwilling to provide a detailed outlook for the rest of the year, Petards did note the UK government's stated commitment to further investment in the railways, law enforcement and security.
The shares rose 5% to 5.5p on Friday morning, down 62% since the start of the year.