Trading Update

RNS Number : 2564Q

Sarantel Group PLC

05 November 2012

 



5 November 2012

Sarantel Group PLC

Full year trading update 

Sarantel Group PLC (AIM: SLG, 'Sarantel' or 'the Group'), a leading manufacturer of high-performance, miniature filtering antennas for mobile and wireless devices, announces a trading update for the year ended 30 September 2012.

The Group reported a 62% increase in unit sales and an increase in revenues of 160% in the second half of the financial year compared to the first half. Total revenues for the year ended 30 September 2012 are expected to be 35% higher than the previous financial year at £3.0 million.

The revenue growth is primarily due to a number of military programs now moving into production. In particular, the Group recently secured a £200,000 follow-up production order for its rugged GeoHelix GPS antenna, which is used in the US military's Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) program. As announced in July 2011, the US Army has indicated a requirement to purchase more than 190,000 JTRS radios over a five year period.

Sarantel continues to make progress with its sales and distribution network, and the Group has sold or sampled its antennas to more than 260 new customers during the year. These new GPS customers and demand from existing customers have combined to increase GPS revenues and unit volumes during the financial year.

Sarantel has recently launched two new GeoHelix GPS antennas that enhance performance and mechanical properties, providing an easy-to-integrate, cost effective, GPS antenna solution. These products directly address a number of historical shortcomings and from initial feedback have been well received by the market.

As of 30 September 2012, the Group had cash balances of £0.1 million. This position is supported by the £2.0m HSBC Loan Facility announced on 1 March 2012, of which £1.2m had been drawn-down in the period.

David Wither, Chief Executive of Sarantel, said:

"Sales growth in the second half has been encouraging and we continue to focus on the progress required to reach break-even.  We remain confident about the longer term prospects for Sarantel's technology as our GeoHelix antennas deliver a level of positional accuracy and reliability essential for a rapidly growing number of location-sensitive applications.

"Our growth potential is currently restrained by our limited sales and engineering resource. However, our leading-edge technology positions us well to benefit from increasing military demand for safety critical applications, along with growth in mobile social networking and location-based advertising in the consumer market."

Enquiries

Sarantel Group PLC	01933 670 560
David Wither, Chief Executive Officer Nicola Malyon, Chief Financial Officer
Beaumont Cornish Ltd (Nominated Adviser)	020 7628 3396
Roland Cornish/Michael Cornish
XCAP Securities PLC (Corporate Broker)	020 7101 7070
Jon Belliss/Karen Kelly
College Hill	020 7457 2020
Kay Larsen/Rozi Morris

About Sarantel - www.sarantel.com

Sarantel is a leader in the design of high-performance miniature antennas for portable wireless applications. Sarantel's revolutionary ceramic filtering antennas offer dramatically improved performance over existing antenna designs, resulting in a clearer signal, better range and a 90per cent reduction in the amount of signal radiation absorbed by the body. Because of their smaller size and higher capabilities, Sarantel's antennas enable manufacturers to create innovative wireless products for the GPS, Satellite Radio and Satellite phone markets.

 

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