Synectics sees a pick-up in trading following election

SURVEILLANCE FIRM Synectics, which provides security for casinos, high security prisons and transport operators, blamed difficult market conditions in the UK for a fall in annual profits and sales.

The Sheffield-based firm said the market has improved since the General Election and it has a healthy order book for 2020.

Chief executive Paul Webb, inset, said: “We hesitate to use the B (Brexit) word, but we found decisions on making investments very slow going from fairly early on in the year and that carried on right through the year.

“We are obviously reliant on new capital projects being sanctioned.”

He said that business has improved since the General Election in December.

“People were just deferring decisions until they could see what happened. The lack of momentum in anything being decided in the UK hit us a lot harder than we expected.”

The group said revenue fell 4 per cent to £68.5m and underlying pre-tax profit was down 14 per cent to £2.5m in the year to November 30.

The group reported a contraction in the UK passenger bus market and a “frustrating” slowdown in contract awards in the UK security integration sector.

In contrast, the group’s leading position in global casino surveillance systems produced strong sales and profits, and “excellent” progress was made in the high end infrastructure sector, which is a key target market for the firm.

“Our strongest growth was in Asia Pacific,” said Mr Webb.

“We did quite well in Europe as well. We secured a large project in Berlin for a new transportation system so that helped our performance in Europe.

“It was steady in the US. Our footprint in the US is almost exclusively in casinos so we think there must be some opportunity in infrastructure and transportation.”

Synectics said 2019 was a mixed year for the group, but it has entered the current financial year with a firm order book up by over 50 per cent and it sees the prospect of reduced uncertainty in the UK economy.