Atlantis awarded $8.6 million follow-on contract from Royal Australian Air Force
Company also discusses outlook for 2005
Toronto Stock Exchange Symbol: AIQ
TORONTO, April 27 /CNW/ - Atlantis Systems Corp. ("Atlantis") (TSX:AIQ)
today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Atlantis Systems
International, has been awarded an $8.6 million follow-on contract to upgrade
the Integrated Maintenance Training Systems (IMTS) for the Royal Australian
Air Force (RAAF).
The IMTS Phase 2 RAAF Hornet Upgrade (HUG) 2.2 program is a follow-on
program to the original 3 F/A-18 IMTS suites delivered by Atlantis to the RAAF
in late 2004. The new program has two main components: an upgrade of the three
existing suites to match the HUG 2.2 update of the aircraft, and a new fourth
suite to be delivered to the RAAF.
"This contract demonstrates our ability to secure new business from
existing customers and provides further evidence of the strong and growing
market for sophisticated maintenance trainers," said Andrew Day, President and
CEO of Atlantis. "In the coming year, we will pursue contracts for our IMTS
for other aviation platforms."
Including this contract, Atlantis now has a firm backlog of approximately
$112 million. Approximately $100 million of this total reflects the recently
awarded Contracted Flight Training and Support (CFTS) contract, which is
expected to generate $65 million in revenue over the next 30 months. Atlantis
expects to begin recognizing revenue from the CFTS contract in the second
quarter of 2005, with revenue increasing in the third quarter of 2005 when the
Company has fully deployed the resources to service the contract. As such,
Atlantis expects its results for the first quarter of 2005 to be comparable to
the prior quarter with the impact of the CFTS and RAAF contracts being felt in
the second half of this year. The Company's first quarter results will be
released in mid-May.
"The CFTS contract advances our business plan by over two years. It
forges strong, long-term relationships with key sub-contractors and, most
importantly, accelerates our transformation from a manufacturer of training
products to a full-service training integrator," added Day.
The CFTS contract, valued at $1.77 billion over a 20-year period, is a
privately funded initiative to provide a complete training service solution
for primary flight training for both fixed wing and rotary aircraft. Atlantis
is responsible for developing, integrating, and supporting the ground-based
training systems including full flight simulators, flight training devices,
desktop simulators, and multimedia courseware all supported by a web-based
training management system and a state-of-the-art IT infrastructure. In
addition, Atlantis will work with the other team members and the Canadian
Forces to market these services to others in new markets and regions.
About the Integrated Maintenance Training System (IMTS)
IMTS represents the future of aircraft maintenance training. This highly
sophisticated maintenance trainer provides realistic, hands-on training in
theory of operation, fault location and repair, and routine maintenance with
greater flexibility and at a fraction of the cost and time of training on
actual hardware. It consists of large interactive panels, a high fidelity
cockpit, an instrumentation panel, and an instructor workstation. It simulates
all of the subsystems of an aircraft including their interrelationships. Most
recently, Atlantis designed, developed, and manufactured IMTS suites for
Boeing's F/A-18 multi-role fighter for the air forces of Australia and Canada.
About Atlantis Systems Corp
Headquartered near Toronto, Canada, Atlantis is a globally recognized
developer of simulation-based training systems principally for military and
commercial aircraft servicing an international client base. For over 25 years,
Atlantis has produced turnkey training solutions including flight training
devices, advanced maintenance trainers, tactical team trainers, sensor and
system part-task training solutions, pilot selection systems, avionic test
equipment, and simulated cockpit controls and displays. Atlantis is registered
under a number of quality management programs including ISO 9001:2000,
AS 9100:2001; Boeing BQMS D6-82479, Rockwell Collins RC-9000, among others.
Atlantis trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol AIQ.
-30-
/For further information: please contact Atlantis Systems Corp. at
info@atlantisSI.com or call Paul Maasland, Vice President, Business
Development, at (905) 792-1981 x235. To learn more about Atlantis, please
visit the company's web site at www.atlantissi.com ./ |
