Patria Group Interim Report for 1 January - 31 March 2019
Patria Group’s result for the first quarter of the year fell somewhat below the target. Net sales totaled EUR 105.1 million. Operating profit was EUR -0.3 million. Equity ratio was 49.4% and net gearing 51.8%.
The first quarter 2019
In January, President and CEO Olli Isotalo left the company, and CFO Ville Jaakonsalo was named interim CEO for the transition period. CEO change is partly connected to Patria’s strategy, under which the company looks for growth especially in international service business.
Patria and the Finnish Defence Forces signed an agreement on preliminary and basic pilot training services. The contract covers pilot training and maintenance of aircraft.
In February Senop, a member of Patria Group, launched a new hyperspectral camera Senop HSC-2, designed to be the new reference in the evolution of hyperspectral imaging.
Patria made an agreement with the Kazakh airline Air Astana to train their new pilots till 2022.
Patria attended IDEX 2019 event in Abu Dhabi featuring its latest technology and showcasing several products: Patria AMV vehicles, Patria Nemo, CANDL, which is a compact data link for air-to-air and air-to-ground applications, ARIS, which is a remote operable Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) system, ARIS-E, which is a new Electronic Support Measures (ESM) product building on ARIS, and MUSCL passive radar system.
In the end of February Patria published news about a joint project with the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra and HUS Helsinki University Hospital, in which a method is being sought to transfer information between the patient and a professional, based on the patient's consent. Patria’s role is to provide support in ensuring the cybersecurity of the project’s data and information systems.
Highlights after the first quarter financial period
In April Patria announced to relocate the initial civil pilot training operations from Tampere-Pirkkala, Finland to city of Córdoba in Spain. Patria’s single-engine DA40 fleet will be based in Córdoba while theoretical training, simulator training and multi-engine training with DA42 fleet will remain in Finland.
Patria attended Rotorcraft & Unmanned Systems Asia event in Singapore and showcased extensive helicopter support services and high-performance data link solution for UAVs.
Patria’s subsidiary Milrem LCM signed a framework agreement for the maintenance and repair of BV206 tracked vehicles with the Logistics Command of the Latvian National Armed Forces. The agreement is valid for eight years.
Patria attended XPONENTIAL 2019 event in Chicago, and showcased there CANDL, Compact Airborne Networking Data Link.
Outlook for the rest of the year
Patria’s domestic customer, the Finnish Defence Forces, has significant projects (HX, SQ 2020) in progress. The next phase after receiving the preliminary quotations is a content analysis that lasts several months. This is followed by the first phase of negotiations during which the quotations are further specified in cooperation with the manufacturers. Patria will also negotiate with the manufacturers about the industrial participation, which is extremely important and a great opportunity to Patria.
The development of the order stock depends to large extent on whether certain large Land export projects, now at the tendering stage, are launched on international markets.
Further information:
Ville Jaakonsalo, CEO, act., Chief Financial Officer, tel. +358 500 881 070, [email protected]
Patria is an international provider of defence, security and aviation life cycle support services and technology solutions. Patria provides its aerospace and military customers with equipment availability, continuous performance development as well as selected intelligence, surveillance and management system products and services. Patria’s mission is to give its customers confidence in all conditions, and the vision is to be the #1 partner for critical operations. Patria has several locations including Finland, Sweden, Norway and Estonia. Net sales totaled EUR 476.1 million in 2018, and Patria employs 2,800 professionals. Patria is owned by the State of Finland (50.1%) and Norwegian Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace AS (49.9%). Patria owns 50% of Norwegian Nammo, and together these three companies form a leading Nordic defence partnership.
