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Proposed £1.3 million UAV Contract with Leading Civil Engineer
Strat Aero plc, the AIM listed international aerospace company focused on the rapidly emerging Unmanned Aerial Vehicle sector, has announced that Geocurve Holdings Limited, its UAV inspection and surveying division, has been notified of the intention of Barhale PLC, a leading UK infrastructure focused civil engineer, to enter into a £1.3 million contract to provide Geocurve’s UAV based engineering, inspection and surveying services over a five year period, as part of a wider £1.25 billion framework agreement between Barhale and Anglian Water.
This development follows the adoption of a more expansive strategy by Strat Aero’s new management team to provide a vertically integrated UAV offering, covering all aspects of the value chain including software, hardware and services. The project is subject to entering into a final contract and the Company will make a further announcement once this has been executed.
Barhale is one of the largest privately owned infrastructure specialists working UK-wide across the water, transport and energy waste sectors, and is a leading provider of civil engineering contracting and infrastructure services to a blue chip customer base. Barhale has recently been appointed as a Framework partner with Anglian Water for the next 15 years with an anticipated value of £1.25 billion. The £1.3m of work set out by Barhale establishes the minimum level of engineering and UAV survey work anticipated for Geocurve over the initial five years of the framework period, and does not include additional revenues expected to be due to Strat Aero through the provision of UAV and other related services required to deliver the contract, such as operating UAVs.
The proposed contract highlights the opportunities available to combine multiple UAV services into one solution for the end customer, and the added value and efficiencies that using UAV technology can bring to many traditional industries.
Tony Dunleavy, CEO of Strat Aero, said: “Upon finalisation, the £1.3 million Barhale contract will be the first the Group has secured since we launched our broader strategy to become a full global solutions provider in the rapidly emerging high growth UAV sector. With a long pipeline of potential contracts in place, both domestically in the UK and overseas, we are highly confident this represents only the first of many new potential contracts for Geocurve and the wider Group. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Geocurve team.
“As today’s update and Geocurve’s existing annual revenue base of over £1million demonstrate, there is already a clear market for UAV based solutions. We firmly believe this market is set to grow exponentially in the years ahead as UAVs transform business practices and provide considerable cost savings to customers across a diverse range of sectors. Thanks to our new strategy, which has seen us complete two key transactions, the acquisition of Geocurve and the signing of a joint venture agreement with UAV training specialist, UAV Airways Limited, Strat Aero is well placed to become the go to provider of a one stop UAV technology offering, one which covers all of a client’s needs including hardware, software, and services. I look forward to providing further updates on our progress.”
