Specialist IT group SCISYS has said its action to avoid the impact of Brexit on its European space business was continuing to pay off with a strong order book.
The group, which has a base in Brislington, moved its parent company from the UK to Ireland last year to protect its EU-funded work. 
At its AGM yesterday, the Chippenham-headquartered group said its space division, which has its roots in the European Space Agency and is a major contractor to continent’s space industry, had maintained a strong order intake as a result of the move.
All parts of the group, which also supplies its bespoke software systems and support services to the media & broadcast, government, defence and commerce sectors, continued to expand their teams on the strength of their pipelines of prospective business opportunities.
It had started 2019 by delivering on contracts that formed part of its record opening order book, winning new contracts and generating strong cashflow in line with its expectations, it said.
In a statement to shareholders, it said: “Our Space division has built on the buoyant two-month period for order intake following the establishment of our Irish group holding company in November 2018 by extending its footprint in the EU-funded Galileo satellite navigation programme (pictured) with the €9.7m order from Thales Alenia Space France, announced in April.
“This success provided further evidence that the board’s decision to implement the re-domiciliation plan to address potential Brexit-orientated risks was fully justified.”
It also said the combination of its Media & Broadcast and Annova Systems divisions since January under a single management team as the SCISYS Media Solutions would maximise benefits from joint product development, marketing, business development and shared customer services.
Its Enterprise Solutions & Defence division had successfully extended its support agreements with UK Power Networks to 2020 and Arqiva to 2021, while securing further orders to maintain its provision of on-site consultancy teams to key customers in both the commercial and defence/security arenas, it said.
“Taking into account the above, an impressive pipeline of new business prospects and continued strong cash conversion, the directors are confident that SCISYS is well placed for 2019 and beyond,” it said.
The group employs around 650 staff across its four UK and four German offices. Its blue-chip customers also include the Environment Agency, the Ministry of Defence, Airbus Defence & Space, the BBC and the National Trust.
In March it reported annual pre-tax profits of just under £2m on revenues of £54.4m and a record order book of £98.6m against £88.2m in 2017.
SCISYS’ shares fell by nearly 6% in early trading yesterday but later made up ground to close last night up 1.55% on the day at 197p.
