CEO's Review, Trading Update & Change to Year End

RNS Number : 6817D

Tekmar Group PLC

30 October 2020

 

30 October 2020

The information communicated within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

TEKMAR GROUP PLC

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

CEO's Review, Trading Update and Change to Financial Year End

Tekmar Group (AIM: TGP), a leading provider of technology and services for the global offshore energy markets announces an update on the new CEO's Review, a trading update ahead of the Group's half year results for the six months ended 30 September 2020 ("HY21"), and a change to its financial year end.

Update on the new CEO's Review

As announced on 15 October 2020, the Group's new CEO, Alasdair MacDonald, is in the process of conducting a review of the internal operations and activities of the business. Alasdair and his executive management team are currently working through the details of a business reorganisation which will deliver operational cost savings and further integration efficiencies across the Group, putting the business on a stronger footing and in the best position to grow profitably in the expanding global offshore energy markets. The details of this review will be provided in the Group's half year results announcement on 1 December 2020.

Trading Update

During HY21 the Group has experienced some short-term delays in contract awards and sales order intake as a result of the COVID-19 disruption.  This has resulted in revenue in HY21 being 10% lower than HY20.  Notwithstanding the disruption to project timings, the visibility of the project pipeline is strong and opportunities in the offshore energy market continue to grow and the focus is now on positioning the Group to maximise on this potential. 

The long-term structural growth prospect of the global offshore wind market is now attracting new entrants and the Group is seeing increasing competition in Tekmar Energy's core market for TekLink. However, through ongoing investment in product development, its new Generation 10 product will help the Group retain its strong market position. Generation 10 will be launched in Q1 2021 and provides a more tailored solution to meet the more demanding requirements of future projects.

Whilst the Board remains confident that the future of the business remains strong, due to the ongoing impact of COVID-19, the directors consider it prudent to continue to refrain from providing financial guidance for FY21 until patterns of demand stabilise.

Change of Financial Year End

The Board believes that it is in the best interest of the Company and shareholders to change its accounting reference date and financial year end from 31 March to 30 September.  The seasonality in the Group's core markets creates a peak of activity around the current financial year end and short-term delays to contracts can have a significant effect on the Group's full year results.  Moving the year end to 30 September will allow the management to focus its full attention on the business during its busiest trading periods and the provision of financial results at a more normalised period end.

As a result of this change, the next five financial reporting events will be:

·	Notification of unaudited interim accounts for the six months to 30 September 2020, on 1 December 2020
·	Notification of unaudited interim accounts for the six months to 31 March 2021, by 30 June 2021
·	Publication of audited accounts for the 18 months to 30 September 2021, on 31 January 2022
·	Notification of unaudited interim accounts for the six months 31 March 2022 by 30 June 2022
·	Publication of audited accounts for the 12 months to 30 September 2022 by 31 March 2023

Enquiries:

Tekmar Group plc Alasdair Macdonald, CEO Sue Hurst, CFO	[phone]
Grant Thornton UK LLP (Nominated Adviser) Philip Secrett / Jamie Barklem	[phone]
Berenberg (Broker) Chris Bowman / Ben Wright / Richard Salmond	[phone]
Belvedere Communications (Financial PR) Cat Valentine Keeley Clarke	[e-mail] [phone] [phone]

About Tekmar Group plc  -  www.tekmargroup.com

Tekmar Group plc's vision is to be the leading provider of technology and services for the global offshore energy markets.  The Group has five primary operating companies; these are Tekmar Energy Limited, Subsea Innovation Limited, AgileTek Engineering Limited, Ryder Geotechnical Limited and Pipeshield International limited.

Tekmar Energy is a global market leader in protection systems for subsea cable, umbilical and flexible pipe. Tekmar Energy has been trusted to protect billions of Euros worth of assets in the offshore wind, oil & gas, wave, tidal and interconnector markets since 1985.

Subsea Innovation is a global leader in the design, manufacture and supply of complex engineered equipment and technology used in the offshore energy market. Its products include large equipment handling systems which operate on the back of pipelay installation vessels; emergency pipeline repair clamps (EPRC) which protect major oil and gas pipelines, and bespoke equipment for use in the construction of offshore energy projects.

AgileTek Engineering is an award-winning subsea engineering consultancy for offshore energy projects. AgileTek helps its clients de-risk projects through advanced computer simulation and analysis.  AgileDat, a division of AgileTek, provides software development, cloud architecture and data analytics services. 

Ryder Geotechnical provides expert geotechnical design and consulting services to the offshore wind and subsea oil and gas sectors. Services include offshore structure foundation design, geohazard assessment and subsea cable routing and burial assessment.

Pipeshield International is a market leading provider of specialised subsea protection solutions in the form of concrete mattresses used for the stabilisation and impact protection of subsea equipment in areas where they cannot be buried and further to limit the development of scour (seabed erosion) particularly local to that of a foundation, pipeline or in marine ports.

Tekmar Energy and Tekmar Group plc is headquartered in Newton Aycliffe in the United Kingdom; AgileTek operates from an office in London; Subsea Innovation has its head office and manufacturing centre in Darlington, United Kingdom. Ryder operates in Newcastle and within AgileTek London, Pipeshield headquarters are in Lowestoft with manufacturing in Montrose and Blyth. Tekmar Group plc also has strategic supply bases and representation across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia Pacific.

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