Quadnetics expects a happy ending to the year

The group said its Synectics security technology arm, based in Sheffield, and its industrial systems arm both showed strong growth.

“Trading was strong in the final months of the financial year and early indications are that results for the year as a whole will be at the higher end of the board’s expectations,” said the group.

Sheffield-based Synectics Network Systems, which supplies customers including prisons and banks, increased sales by 20 per cent during the year to the end of November. Its Synectics Industrial Systems business, which is based in Brigg, Lincolnshire, and serves the oil and gas sectors, increased turnover by 30 per cent.

Quadnetics said this revenue growth has had a “significant beneficial impact” on margins.

Revenues in its Integration and Managed Services division, plus the transport arm of its Synectics Mobile Systems division, were flat on a year ago.

However, political turmoil in the Middle East and limited UK defence orders hampered progress in the rest of its Synectics Mobile Systems division

The group said it ended the year with a £34.7m order book, including £3.3m orders from its acquisition of transport surveillance systems firm Indanet. Its comparable order book a year earlier was £27.3m.

Quadnetics bought Indanet in July for a maximum total of £9m and said since then, it has performed better than expected. This was down to improved trading and slower increases in spending, it added. The company said Indanet’s integration is going well.

Quadnetics hopes Indanet will drive its expansion into specialist transport surveillance markets in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe.

It should also boost sales of Synectics’ high security surveillance systems in these regions. Munich-based Indanet’s main customers include Deutsche Bahn and public transport organisations in Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt.

The company also bolstered its security technology business in January, buying Bristol-based defence electronics manufacturer Persides Technology Ltd (PTL) for £260,000. PTL specialises in advanced battlefield electronic monitoring systems and ‘ruggedised’ hand-held digital video systems for extreme environments. The shares firmed 10p to 213.5p.