Success in Asia sees Coe return to profit
A STRING of major wins and a healthy order book have boosted Coe despite a fall in revenue.
The Leeds-based firm, which supplies advanced video surveillance systems, also reported pre-tax profits of £13,000 for the year ended June 30 compared to a loss of £1m for the year before.
Revenue fell 9% to £3.8m down from £4.1m for the same period 2008. Meanwhile operating expenses reduced by 38% to £2.1m from £3.4m following restructuring of its cost base.
Coe, which supplies CCTV to monitor traffic on the streets of London, said that the fall in revenue was due to timing of orders but that its order book increase expected to flow through to revenue during the second half of 2010.
Orders have increased by 35% including significant contract wins such as Seoul Metro – a system boasting more than 8,000 cameras.
Other wins include the upgrade of transmission equipment on East/West and North/South rail lines for Singapore MRT to add around 4,000 camera to the existing network.
Gunsan Port signals Coe’s second major port win in Asia following its success at the Port of Singapore based on its IP digital video tecnhnology.
The company has also been busy launching new technology during the period such as I-Vue Cameras, a range of IP/Analogue cameras providing a choice of compression options, high performance quality and built in motion detection.
Ian Jefferson, Coe’s chief executive, said: “There are two key achievements which stand out for me this year.
“The first one is the group turnaround. Achieving a profit in a very difficult economic climate is a tremendous result and a testament to the talented group of people we have at Coe.”
He continued: “The second is the Seoul Metro contract win. This contract, which is worth in excess of £1m, was through a new partner in a new territory and demonstrates the competitiveness of our solution and the quality of partners we are attracting.”
Mr Jefferson said that Coe would now be stepping up its business development activity as it looked to replicate its success worldwide.
However, the firm noted that the ongoing economic downturn was continuing to affect short term business performance.
It said that in the UK and Europe there had been a significant slow down in demand offset to date by new business wins primarily in Asia.
But while results for the next financial year would be heavily weighted towards the second half, Coe’s board remains confident that the overall result for the current year will show a continued improvement over 2009.
Coe has more than 10,000 installations worldwide across traffic and transport, heavy industrial and urban surveillance sectors.
References include the London Congestion Charge network, underground and high-speed rail systems worldwide including the UK, Singapore, France, Spain, Germany, Hong Kong and Delhi, airports across Germany, Hong Kong and South East Asia and road systems worldwide.
