TIDMWSG
RNS Number : 3211I
Westminster Group PLC
01 April 2020
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION AS DEFINED IN
ARTICLE 7 OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION NO. 596/2014 ("MAR"). UPON
THE PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT, THIS INSIDE INFORMATION IS
NOW CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN
Westminster Group Plc
('Westminster', the 'Group' or the 'Company')
Coronavirus and Business Update
Westminster Group Plc (AIM: WSG), a leading supplier of managed
services and technology-based security solutions worldwide, wishes
to provide an update on its business activities and precautionary
measures it is putting in place to deal with the effects of the
Coronavirus ('COVID-19') pandemic.
An increasing number of countries around the world are
restricting and cancelling flights in response to the COVID-19
pandemic including Freetown International Airport, in Sierra Leone,
where Westminster provides airport security services. Whilst Sierra
Leone has just announced its first recorded cases of COVID-19, the
government had previously taken the precautionary step of
quarantining passengers and restricting traffic to emergency and
special flights only. Whilst this will have an inevitable impact on
our revenues from this part of our operations for a period, we
believe it is important that we also support our staff and the
local community through what will be challenging times for the
country, as we did during the Ebola epidemic a few years ago. We
will be maintaining employment of our local staff to preserve
security at the airport and will be using time between flights to
undertake additional training for staff and to carry out
comprehensive servicing and maintenance of all equipment.
In addition, through the Westminster Group Foundation, we are
also supporting the local community with key supplies such as rice,
sugar and water as part of our regular corporate social
responsibility programme.
We are in the fortunate position that our business is built on
having multiple revenue streams from diverse operations in varying
parts of the world. Whilst our airport operations are being
impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, our product sales team is
experiencing record enquiry levels, particularly for fever
screening and associated equipment. So far in Q1 2020, the Group
has received over $2.1 million USD of online product orders of
which $1.7 million USD were in March 2020 and over $1.2 million USD
of that was the last two weeks alone, mitigating the reductions in
our airport business. We are also fortunate in that much of our
revenues are generated from long-term and recurring revenue
contracts (we entered 2020 with over GBP8m of annual recurring
revenue for the year) and so where we have reductions in such
revenue streams during the COVID-19 disruption these are expected
to return once the pandemic passes.
Our container screening business in Tema Port, Ghana, has not
been affected by airport closures and restrictions and continues to
operate and produce revenues as normal. As previously announced, we
and our partners Scanport have been successfully running the
container screening and secondary search operations since the port
opened on 28 June 2019 under a Technical Partnership Agreement
signed between Scanport and Westminster in March 2019. The main
contract between Meridian Port Services and Scanport was signed in
March 2020, confirming Westminster as the Technical Partner for the
duration of the Contract, being a 5-year renewable term. The
Technical Partnership Agreement will be updated or replaced in due
course to reflect our operational requirements but given the
Coronavirus situation, this is not considered important and does
not alter the contractual or financial arrangements in place.
Our training business has been affected by the cancellation of
many international flights although we are developing our
non-contact services such as Computer Based Training (CBT), a
growing area in aviation and other training areas, and we have some
interesting developments underway that will allow training
operations to be undertaken safely from a distance.
Our guarding business is likely to be affected by some site
closures although there is a likelihood that some guarding
requirements may increase during site closures to ensure sites
remain secure.
Overall, despite the disruption from COVID-19, our business has
performed well and has been profitable in Q1 with revenues of over
GBP4 million an increase of more than 30% over the same period in
2019 (Q1 2019: GBP3.1 million) and we have a healthy order book
going forward. We have put in place various cost reduction measures
and we end Q1 2020 with GBP2.2 million in cash and are, in
addition, pursuing government support initiatives. The Company
currently expects to be able to operate effectively within its
available resources and will closely monitor the ongoing situation,
taking further cost reduction measures if necessary.
We continue to look for new opportunities to expand our online
sales opportunities. Our overriding priority however continues to
be the safety and wellbeing of our people around the world and to
continue to provide a valuable service to our customers. To those
ends we have put in place various precautionary measures and are
undertaking regular risk assessments for all areas of our
business.
Conversion of Convertible Loan Notes and Total Voting Rights
As part of the repayment of the Convertible Loan Notes holders
to the value of GBP6,250 have elected to convert into 62,500
shares.
Application will be made for these shares, which will rank pari
passu with the Company's existing issued Ordinary Shares, to be
admitted to trading on AIM. It is expected that Admission will
become effective and that dealings on AIM will commence at 8:00am
on or around 6 April 2020.
In accordance with the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure
Guidance and Transparency Rules ('DTRs'), the Company hereby
announces that it has 159,465,011 ordinary shares of 10p each in
issue, none of which are held in treasury. Therefore, the total
number of voting rights in the Company is 159,465,011.
The above figure of 159,465,011 may be used by shareholders in
the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they
will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or
a change in their interest in, the share capital of the Company
under the DTRs.
For further information please contact:
Westminster Group Plc Media enquiries via Walbrook
PR
Rt. Hon. Sir Tony Baldry - Chairman
Peter Fowler - Chief Executive Officer
Mark Hughes - Chief Financial Officer
S. P. Angel Corporate Finance LLP (NOMAD
& Broker)
Stuart Gledhill 020 3470 0470
Caroline Rowe
Walbrook (Investor Relations)
Tom Cooper 020 7933 8780
Paul Vann
Nick Rome Westminster@walbrookpr.com
Notes:
Westminster Group plc is a specialist security and services
group operating worldwide via an extensive international network of
agents and offices in over 50 countries.
Westminster's principal activity is the design, supply and
ongoing support of advanced technology security solutions,
encompassing a wide range of surveillance, detection (including
Fever Detection), tracking and interception technologies and the
provision of long-term managed services contracts such as the
management and running of complete security services and solutions
in airports, ports and other such facilities together with the
provision of manpower, consultancy and training services. The
majority of its customer base, by value, comprises governments and
government agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGO's) and
blue-chip commercial organisations.
The Westminster Group Foundation was formed in 2014 as an
initiative of Westminster Group plc. during the West African Ebola
Crisis.
The Foundation's goal is to support the communities in which the
Group operates by working with local partners and other established
charities to provide goods or services for the relief of poverty
and the advancement of education and healthcare particularly in the
developing world.
The Westminster Group Foundation is a Charitable Incorporated
Organisation, CIO, registered with the Charities Commission number
1158653.
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END
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