Petards, the AIM quoted developer of advanced security and surveillance systems will hold its AGM this morning at 11.00 a.m. at The County Club, 158 High Street, Guildford, Surrey. At the AGM, Petards Chairman, Raschid Abdullah will make the following statement:

“I am pleased to report that trading in the first quarter of 2016 is slightly ahead of management’s expectations with both revenues and results being above those for the same period in 2015. While still early in the year, it is encouraging that the increase in revenues is being seen across all of the Group’s product areas.

“Earlier today, Petards announced the acquisition of QRO Solutions Limited (“QRO”), a UK private company established over 15 years ago, for a maximum consideration of £1,255,000 that will be satisfied in cash from Petards existing cash reserves. QRO provides end-to-end Automatic Number Plate Recognition (“ANPR”) security and speed enforcement solutions to UK police forces and to integrators serving the police and security markets and is expected to complement Petards’ existing ProVida product range, broadening the Group’s product offering both at home and abroad.

“In the financial year ended 30 November 2015, QRO generated pre-tax profits of £101,000 on revenues of £1,784,000 and the company benefits from a good stream of recurring revenues. The acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing in 2016 and represents the first step in the Board’s strategy of growing the Group into a larger and more prosperous business. The Board continues to review other acquisition opportunities in pursuit of that goal.

“With a number of new order prospects currently being negotiated and strong backing from the Group’s existing order book, the Board anticipates that both the first half year and full year results will show good progress against those achieved in 2015.”
 
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