LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - SRT Marine Systems reported a sharp rise in revenue and a return to profit for the year ended 30 June on Wednesday, driven by accelerating demand for its maritime surveillance and monitoring systems across multiple government customers.

Revenue jumped 426% to £78m, supported by the implementation of its SRT-MDA systems with five sovereign clients.

Profit before tax, excluding an exceptional non-cash finance charge, was £4.9m.

The AIM-traded company ended the year with £4.3m in unrestricted cash, rising to £13.6m by the end of September.

SRT said it now had £325m of active system contracts and a pipeline of new opportunities valued at £1.8bn.

Post year-end, the firm said it received notification of an award from a new sovereign customer for a maritime surveillance system worth around $200m, subject to contract finalisation and financing.

"The marine domain is critically important in many ways to everyone," said chief executive Simon Tucker.

"And yet what goes on there is mostly unseen and remains a mystery.

"SRT is working to solve this global issue with our integrated marine domain systems that deliver AI-driven insight and intelligence to stakeholders that range from sovereign states seeking territorial and border security to mariners focused on safer and efficient navigation.

"Today's results are indicative of the latent demand waking up to the availability of our systems and the valuable insight and intelligence they can access on demand.

"I believe we are right at the start of this global adoption."

SRT said it was continuing to invest heavily in its next-generation technologies, including enhanced artificial intelligence capabilities within its SRT-MDA system and final pre-shipment refinements to its NEXUS data and voice transceiver, which was now in the pre-production and certification phase.

The company said its annual general meeting would take place on 4 December at the Centurion Hotel in Radstock, preceded by an open morning at its offices.

At 1037 BST, shares in SRT Marine Systems were up 5.6% at 85.75p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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