Banbury-based Westminster Group wins $1.7m African airports contract

Published by

Peter Davison

Jet airplane landing at sunset from Barcelona

Westminster Group, the Banbury-based supplier of managed services and technology-based security solutions worldwide, has been awarded a contract to design, supply and install advanced screening and surveillance equipment to two airports in Southeast Africa.

The contract, valued at circa US$1.7 million and funded by the European Investment Bank, has been awarded after a lengthy international competitive tender process and involves the upgrading of security equipment, including new x-ray screening & metal detection equipment, an advanced CCTV surveillance system and new control and command centres at both airports.

Westminster will provide a full turnkey solution involving the design, supply and installation of the systems and will be establishing an engineering presence in-country for future maintenance and support services.

Westminster's bid was selected as the most advantageous after a combined technical and financial evaluation. Installation works are expected to begin in the new year and for the project to be completed and recognised during 2022.

The company reported this morning that, despite the global pandemic impacting its business during 2021, it has a healthy cash balance sufficient for its current requirements.

Commenting on the contract award, Westminster CEO, Peter Fowler, said: "In our trading statement dated 19 November 2021 I mentioned the impact of, inter alia, ongoing COVID-19 related travel restrictions and ongoing general business caution across the company's targeted jurisdictions, had delayed certain anticipated contract awards and/or associated revenue generation.

"This is one example. The tender, which was initially announced in November 2020, was expected to be awarded in Q1 2021 and largely completed during the current year. However, principally due to the global challenges created by the pandemic, the award deadline was extended several times during the year.

"I am delighted therefore that we have, at last, been awarded this important new contract for advanced airport security solutions in Southeast Africa and it is yet another example of Westminster's growing global reach across a wide range of disciplines and demonstrates our ability to secure business in new territories.

"Not only does this contract open a new region for our international operations, but we believe creates an exciting opportunity for our Managed Services division in developing a wider scope of works and long-term support services at the airports.

"With new contracts coming online and the measures we have and are continuing to put in place to mitigate the impact of the pandemic going forward, subject to any significant and prolonged changes in the global situation occurring, we remain confident for 2022 and beyond."

Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country. An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts. Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.