New contract award…

Westminster Group Plc announces that its aviation division has secured a major 15 year contract to provide complete airport security at an international airport in Africa.

The contract, which has a potential revenue value in excess of $150million USD over the term of the contract, is to provide comprehensive ground security operations at the main international airport of a West African nation.

The contract involves the provision of a wide range of detection and surveillance technologies as well as the deployment of security personnel within the terminals, the airside zone and the airfield perimeter.

Following a two month pre-deployment transition period, operations will commence in May 2012. The contract will be funded by a per passenger fee denominated in USD, payable directly to Westminster by airlines using the airport and is expected to generate revenues of $4.5m in the first twelve months of operation. Westminster expects that, based on current passenger volumes and growth rates being sustained across the life of the contract, then revenues could be in excess $150m. The airport, which is seeing a marked increase in traffic due to the growing economic prosperity of the country in question, is currently utilised by a number of major European Airlines. Additional North American and Middle Eastern Airlines are expected to commence services in the foreseeable future, further increasing passenger numbers and, in turn, revenues to Westminster.

The contract is illustrative of the bespoke nature of integrated security solutions that Westminster provides to clients with large and complex security requirements.

Commenting on the contract award Peter Fowler, Chief Executive of Westminster Group, said:

“I am delighted to be able to announce a major new contract award for our aviation security business which will create over 100 new jobs in West Africa.

“Westminster has valuable reference sites for security solutions in airports worldwide and our aviation business is currently experiencing record interest, including enquiries from several other similar international airports.

“This latest multi-million USD, multi-year contract award follows other multi-million contract awards secured in 2011 and is in line with the Group’s strategy of building large scale, long term, fully integrated security solutions with recurring revenue streams.

“The award is a testament to our strategy of focussing on growing markets in the Middle East, Asia and Africa where Westminster is building a significant presence and potential. An indication of that potential can be seen from a recent report from the IMF which states that, in the next five years, seven of the world’s ten fastest growing economies will be in sub-Saharan Africa, including many of the countries we are active in.”