Westminster Group reports significant rise in revenues

Banbury-based Westminster Group Plc, a leading supplier of managed services and technology- based security solutions, has reported a significant rise in revenues of 117 per cent to £5.6 million in its unaudited interim results for the six months ended June 30, 2019.

Peter Fowler, the Group’s Chief Executive, said that the business is now in a better position than it has been for some time in terms of management, structure, revenues and prospects.

The company’s order book at June 30 was £3.3 million.

Peter Fowler said: "The first six months of 2019 has been a significant move forward from the same period last year with H1 2019 revenues of £5.6m, more than double that of H1 2018 (£2.6m). Both Managed Services and Technology Divisions have performed ahead of expectations and passenger numbers for our West Africa airport operations for the first six months of 2019 are the highest levels since we commenced operations there.

"In the first six months of 2019 we secured £3.9m in new orders, in addition to our regular contracted managed services and maintenance recurring revenues. We continue to have a healthy and active enquiry bank and we continue to progress a number of large-scale project opportunities around the world.

"In March 2019 we signed a Joint venture agreement with Scanport in Ghana leading to the Scanport-Westminster JV receiving a Letter of Intent in June 2019 regarding the appointment as the sole operator for a new long-term managed services project for container screening services at the new $1.5billion USD Tema Container Port terminal in Ghana. We expect all contracts to be finalised in the coming weeks and the port to be fully operational by the end of Q3 2019 and to be contributing to the Division's results in H2. This large and prestigious project is a major step forward for the Managed Services Division opening up new long-term, recurring revenue streams and opportunities in a new sector.

"We have also signed other important joint venture agreements. We signed a joint venture agreement with a significant partner in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Hazar International, setting up Westminster Arabia in the Kingdom, opening up a number of potential projects and we also signed a strategic alliance with the Gulf Aviation Academy, a leading provider of professional aviation training in Bahrain and the wider Middle East and North Africa ('MENA') region, greatly expanding our range of services to existing and potential clients. Both are important strategic developments for the business.

"Notwithstanding our growing business we have reduced our central costs, which are down by £219k (23%) from H1 2018 and, given the strong H1 performance together with our contracted recurring revenues, a £3.3m order book at the end of June 2019 and contribution from Keyguard and Euro Ops, we expect 2019 revenues to be significantly ahead of 2018."