Million pound casino deals boost Sheffield firm

Surveillance firm Synectics '‹reported a strong increase in annual profits and said the business is well positioned for significant growth.
A Las Vegas casino deal has put Synectics on the mapA Las Vegas casino deal has put Synectics on the map
A Las Vegas casino deal has put Synectics on the map

The Sheffield-based firm has been boosted by ​​million pound project wins for casino surveillance in Asia and Las Vegas.

The group's chief executive Paul Webb said: "It's been a fantastic year for our casino business. We delivered three mega resorts - one in the Philippines, one in Macao and one in Las Vegas, which was our first premier property in Las Vegas.

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"Now we are visible in North America. Big casino operators are selecting software designed in Sheffield all around the world.

"We've got a good stream of engineers from Sheffield University."

One of the group's core markets, oil and gas, remains difficult and it does not see any improvement until next year so it is diversifying into other areas.

Oil and gas used to make up 30 per cent of Synectics' business but now accounts for just 15 per cent.

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"We've de-risked the group from the oil and gas sector although it could be an opportunity going forward," said Mr Webb.

"We've reduced capacity and managed to retain profitability. As we move towards 2018 and beyond, we'd hope the sector will give us a big opportunity."

The group said underlying profit rose 86 per cent to £2.6m and revenue rose 4 per cent to £71m in the year to November 30.

The group's has diversified into other areas such as surveillance systems for public spaces, local authorities, power stations and shopping centres.

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It is also working with transport operators and completed a surveillance system at the new Terminal 3 at Jakarta's international airport, which is Southeast Asia's busiest air hub.

In the UK, it is working with bus and coach operators and said it has outperformed the market.

"We are now looking beyond the UK and we're also looking at tram and live rail. It's a two to three year play," said Mr Webb.

The group doubled its final dividend from 1.0p to 2.0p.

"We are committed to maintaining a strong dividend," said Mr Webb.

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The group's chairman David Coghlan said: "The group’s profits, profit margin and return on capital made reasonable progress back towards our target levels, but they clearly have some way yet to go.

"This reflects the fact that our core business is still operating below capacity, in the main as a result of continuing reduced activity in the global oil and gas industry, historically one of Synectics’ largest customer sectors.

"Good results were achieved in mobile transportation and, particularly, in high-end casinos, where the Synectics team produced a quite exceptional performance in successfully delivering several new multi-million pound surveillance systems centred on our core software technology."

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