H1/2015 Trading Update

RNS Number : 2956S

Gama Aviation PLC

07 July 2015

 

7^th July 2015

Gama Aviation plc (AIM: GMAA)

("Gama Aviation", the "Company" or the "Group")

H1/2015 Trading Update

Gama Aviation Plc - "On-Track"

Gama Aviation Plc, one of the world's largest business aviation service providers, is pleased to provide an update on trading for the six months to 30 June 2015, ahead of its interim results which will be announced in full by the end of September 2015.

The Board is pleased to report that the six month period has seen the business delivering on the strategic objectives that were set out at the time of the reverse takeover of Hangar8 plc in early January 2015.

·      Overall trading performance across the Group was in line with management expectations;

·      The Gama Aviation and Hangar8 businesses have been successfully integrated within the first half, delivering synergies at least in line with expectations;

·      Organic growth continues with the addition of further new aircraft across its global operations and a strong order book for its European Ground business;

·      Geographical expansion continues with:

o  the launch of a Hong Kong Joint Venture with Hutchinson Whampoa and the introduction into service of its first two managed aircraft in the region; and

o  strong growth within the US operations, particularly in ground operations where the rollout of new bases is ahead of schedule.

One of the primary drivers of the reverse merger was to create a global aviation service business, and in so doing offering Gama Aviation's customers a premium service anywhere in the world whilst also economically insulating the Company's revenues and profitability from the different geographical economic cycles.

This strategy has worked well during the six month period enabling the group to benefit from a faster than expected growth in the US market which has helped to offset the recent and continuing Eurozone stagnation, as well as the Oil and Gas sector which has had a negative effect within the former Hangar8 business depressing overall European Air operations.

The Board believes that it is testament to the global strength of Gama Aviation's business model both geographically and in terms of service offerings that such regional dips in performance, which management believe to be temporary, can be absorbed without any adverse impact on the Company's ability to meet overall trading expectations. With many parts of the Group's global operations performing ahead of expectations, including those within Gama Aviation's European Ground operations, overall trading for the period remains firmly in line with management expectations and the full year outlook remains positive.

Marwan Khalek, CEO of Gama Aviation Plc commented:

"I am, of course, very pleased with our positive trading update and that our performance remains in line with expectations.  However, for me the most pleasing aspect of the last six months has been our ability to deliver against all the key objectives that we set ourselves in January.  Chief amongst these has been the integration and re-organisation of the business post-merger, and to be able to report that it has been successfully completed is of course a great achievement for the management team and is a significant milestone.

We are now a single entity that operates with a class-leading platform of infrastructure and management around which we can now drive our scale, breadth and depth and aggressively build our growth both organically and acquisitively.  In the meantime, we will of course continue to fine-tune and strengthen the platform and our attention has already turned to the 'optimisation' phase during which we will seek to further streamline our business processes and our corporate structure so as to make our operations more efficient, more productive and to extract further cost and revenue synergies.

With a solid trading performance for the first half of the year, with integration and other key objectives delivered, and with the excellent platform that we now have, I am confident that the full year outlook remains positive and in line with market expectations. The underlying strategic rationale for the merger was to create the platform to take advantage of some unique opportunities in a highly fragmented and growing market - six months into our journey I am very pleased that both our current performance and our strategy are firmly on-track."

Gama Aviation Plc
Marwan Khalek, Chief Executive                                     [phone]

Citigate Dewe Rogerson                                              [phone]
Chris Jarvis, Associate Director                                      
Phil Anderson, Executive Director

Cantor Fitzgerald Europe                                            [phone]
(Nominated Adviser & Broker)    
Rick Thompson/Catherine Leftley (Corporate Finance)
David Banks (Corporate Broking)

 

END

 

 

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