AGM Statement

RNS Number : 9273T

LPA Group PLC

23 March 2023

 

LPA GROUP PLC

("LPA", the "Company" or the "Group")

Chairman's Statement

At the AGM of the Group to be held at 12.00 noon later today, Robert B Horvath, Chairman, will make the following statement:

"I commented on the resilience of our order book on 3 February 2023 and reconfirmed this on 15 February 2023 with a new contract win that increased the order book to £34m; a new high.

Our LPA Connection Systems manufacturing facility in Saffron Walden is targeting the aftercare market and in particular the rail market both here and overseas. There is good opportunity, given the necessity for extended lives of much of the countries' rolling stock, to manufacture product in Saffron Walden to support this. This work will create a base level of productivity to firmly secure the future of this facility, as the relatively new management team develop other products. In addition, the sale of the new aviation product range continues to grow in line with plan and provides an exciting opportunity for our brand development overseas.

Our Yorkshire based lighting and electronic systems business has witnessed increased enquiry levels as the team have re-engaged face to face with its customers. Two of their major new build rail projects have now passed their development stage, are technically approved and we are ready to start manufacture when our clients give the green light. Our new Managing Director of Channel Electric started a few days ago; he has joined at a time that the business has seen a substantial increase in activity, which will create opportunities later in this calendar year.

Trading is in line with expectations and we anticipate a return to full year profitability this year, notwithstanding the difficult trading period in the first six months of the year. The Board is confident of the future outlook and it anticipates the restoration of a modest dividend in the latter half of 2023, recognising that the strength of our recovery will be more apparent as we enter the next financial year."

23 March 2023

Enquires:	www.lpa-group.com		Tel:
LPA Group plc
Robert B Horvath	Chairman		01799 512 800
Paul Curtis	CEO
Stuart Stanyard	CFO
finnCap	NOMAD and Broker		020 7220 0500
Ed Frisby / Abigail Kelly (Corporate Finance) Tim Redfern / Charlotte Sutcliffe (ECM)

About LPA

LPA Group plc (AIM: LPA) is a market leading designer, manufacturer and supplier of high reliability LED lighting, electronic and electro-mechanical systems, and a distributor of engineered components.

Focused on transport (rail and aviation), defence, infrastructure and industrial markets and supplying into hostile and challenging environments, LPA is known for engineering solutions to improve product reliability, reducing maintenance and life cycle costs.

The Group has three sites across the UK, selling to customers in the UK and overseas. Two of these are design and manufacturing sites: LPA Connection Systems - electro-mechanical systems for rail, aviation and industrial, and LPA Lighting Systems - LED lighting and electronic systems for rail and infrastructure. The third site is LPA Channel Electric - a value added distributer of engineered components for rail, aerospace and defence.

With over 160 years of UK design and manufacture, and with origins in the first ever light installed in 'Electric Avenue', Brixton; innovation is core to LPA and to the products and services supplied to our customers worldwide.

For more information visit  www.lpa-group.com

Caution regarding forward looking statements

Certain statements in this announcement, are, or may be deemed to be, forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ''believe'', ''could'', "should" ''envisage'', ''estimate'', ''intend'', ''may'', ''plan'', ''potentially'', "expect", ''will'' or the negative of those, variations or comparable expressions, including references to assumptions. These forward looking statements are not based on historical facts but rather on the Directors' current expectations and assumptions regarding the Company's future growth, results of operations, performance, future capital and other expenditures (including the amount, nature and sources of funding thereof), competitive advantages, business prospects and opportunities. Such forward looking statements reflect the Directors' current beliefs and assumptions and are based on information currently available to the Directors.

 

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