PipeHawk reports 'healthy' order book

PipeHawk said in an update on Thursday that its order intake for the year stood at a “healthy” £4.3m, not including the carried-forward order book at the beginning of the financial year, which totalled £2.5m.

The AIM-traded firm, which was holding its annual general meeting, said QM Systems also had a “strong” order pipeline, which it described as “encouraging” for the rest of the current financial period.

Chairman Gordon Watt told shareholders he was “pleased to report” that QM Systems signed a further contract manufacturing agreement with Fast MDx, a UK-based molecular diagnostics company, to deliver a semi-automated low‑cost, high‑throughput, near-patient molecular diagnostic test system.

“This agreement covers the pilot phase and will involve the design and manufacture of the system and the filling of vials on behalf of the customer at the Hartlebury premises,” Watt said.

“This is an interesting early-stage project and while revenues will not be material at this stage, QM Systems hopes that this will lead to a larger contract in due course.”

The company also reported that the memorandum of understanding signed by Thomson Engineering Design (TED) with Unipart Rail, for Unipart to be the exclusive partner for sales and distribution of TED rail equipment into territories in Europe, Asia, New Zealand, Australia and the Americas, had now been signed as a contract.

“TED has also recently started to do small scale contract manufacturing for a long-established supplier to the rail industry to conduct a small number of mule conversions, with the expectation that this will lead to Toyota Hilux conversions in the second half of the current financial year.

“TED intends to develop this area of its business by developing partnerships outside the rail sector.”

At 1311 GMT, shares in PipeHawk were up 5.89% at 14.03p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.