Petards Group plc (AIM: PEG), the AIM quoted developer of advanced security, communications and surveillance systems, is pleased to report its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2024.

Key Highlights:

• Operational

o Completed £2.85 million acquisition of Affini Technology on 13 June

• £2.52 million in cash and £0.33 million in Petards consideration shares
• Cash element funded utilising Petards own cash and partial drawdown of its working capital facility
• acquired Affini balance sheet included cash of £0.46 million

o Strong sales of QRO’s newly launched Harrier AI camera with a mobile variant scheduled for launch later this year
o Continued cash generative operating performance
o Order book at 30 June 2024 of £7.1 million (31 Dec 2023: £2.4 million)
o Several significant contracts wins amounting to c£2.5 million announced post June 2024 for Rail, QRO and Affini

• Financial

o Revenue £4.4 million (H1 2023: £4.4 million)
o Gross profit margin 49.0% (H1 2023: 47.3%)
o Adjusted EBITDA profit of £33,000 (H1 2023: £59,000 loss)¹
o Operating loss before exceptional items £466,000 (H1 2023: £489,000 loss)
o Exceptional acquisition costs incurred in period £412,000 (H1 2023: £nil)
o Post-tax loss £928,000 (H1 2023: £301,000 loss)
o Cash generated from operating activities £438,000 (H1 2023: £250,000)
o Net debt at 30 June 2024 £680,000 (31 Dec 2023: net funds £1,241,000)²
o Diluted EPS loss of 1.63p (H1 2023: loss of 0.53p)

¹ Adjusted EBITDA is earnings before depreciation, amortisation, exceptional items, acquisition costs and share based payments
² Net funds/(debt) comprise cash and cash equivalents less interest-bearing loans and borrowings (excluding lease liabilities)

Commenting on the current outlook, Raschid Abdullah, Chairman, said:

“The successful acquisition of Affini and the improvement in the Group’s order book post June 2024 is encouraging. Order successes announced since June total over £2.5 million across QRO, Affini and Rail.

“We are also pleased with Affini’s encouraging start since becoming part of the Group and expect it will be earnings accretive post funding costs in the current year and beyond.

“Recent orders give the Board encouragement that, subject to other expected orders being received in sufficient time, the second half of the year should deliver a much-improved performance, albeit the result for the year may fall short of current market expectations.”

Download RNS announcement

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the UK version of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 which is part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as amended ("MAR"). Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.