Pressure Technologies secures two 'major' contract wins

Engineering group Pressure Technologies said on Thursday that it has been awarded two major contracts, in the defence and green energy sectors.

Pressure Technologies' Chesterfield Special Cylinders was awarded a major contract to supply air pressure vessels to the Royal Australian Navy's Hunter class frigate program. The contract award by BAE Systems Maritime Australia covers the first batch of three frigates in the program and underpins its expected global defence order book development in the second half of FY24.

Initial manufacturing milestones will commence later this year, while pressure vessels were expected to be delivered to the program over the next three years.

The AIM-listed firm also revealed CSC scored a major contract to supply high-pressure steel cylinder packages to Cheesecake Energy Limited, a UK developer of sustainable thermal and compressed air energy storage systems, for a pilot project funded by the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero. The "significant contract award" was for a total of 48 cylinders, with initial manufacturing milestones commencing later this year.

Chief executive Chris Walters said: "I am delighted to confirm the major contract award for Chesterfield Special Cylinders to deliver pressure vessels for the Royal Australian Navy's Hunter class frigate program. Underpinning the global defence order book, the contract award demonstrates the continued close collaboration with BAE Systems globally and recognises the specialised engineering and manufacturing capabilities of Chesterfield Special Cylinders.

"We are also looking forward to collaborating with Cheesecake Energy on their pilot UK project, contributing our knowledge and experience in the design and manufacture of safety-critical pressure vessels to the delivery of a scalable, cost-effective green energy storage solution."

Pressure Technologies added that the launch of a sale process for its PMC division in December 2023 had led to it receiving a number of non-binding indicative offers for the division. During the next phase of the process, Pressure Technologies' board intends to provide selected potential acquirers with additional access to PMC and will invite final offers for the unit.

As of 1045 GMT, Pressure Technologies shares had surged 15.08% to 38.55p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com