Dec 2006

APPH wins EC175 landing gear contract from Eurocopter.

This is a large multi-million pound order for APPH and involves the design and manufacture of landing gears for both the French EC175 helicopter as well as the Chinese variant - the Z15. APPH has beaten the competition in a strong fight to win this contract for the EC175/Z15. The APPH team had to compete against three other major European manufacturers, and has been working on the project for over two years to reach this excellent outcome.

The market for this programme is expected to be up to 1000 helicopters, with a production life of 20 years. The value of the contract for Original Equipment and spares is anticipated to be in excess of $100m of revenue, and this award significantly increases APPH's profile in the global aviation systems market and is another major step in achieving the company's organic growth strategy.

Eurocopter (wholly owned by EADS), is one of the largest helicopter manufacturers in the world and is working with the Chinese on this project. This enables Eurocopter to access the Chinese market, which is looking for 280 Z15's (the Chinese variant of the EC175), while Eurocopter is looking to produce 400 aircraft for its market. The initial current production run is anticipated at between 680 and 800 aircraft planned to start in 2011 and the prototype is planned to fly in 2009.

APPH is the sole British-owned company capable of providing complete landing gear systems. Thousands of aircraft, hundreds of airlines and dozens of air forces throughout the world rely on our expertise - a testimony to our commitment to the very highest standards of technology, service, design and development.

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