Major Contract Win in the Middle East

Aukett Swanke Group Plc, the international practice of architects and interior design specialists and engineers, is pleased to announce a significant new project win in the Middle East.

In our 2016 Strategic Report we referred to the need to strengthen our UK and Middle East operations in order to provide resilience to our business model over the longer term and, in the case of the Middle East, provide us with the platform to gain access to larger scale projects. Our increase in staff numbers to over 115 since 2015 following two local acquisitions has provided this scale.

As a result of this strategic development we are now pleased to advise that our UAE design team has won, against international competition, the commission to design and deliver a new concept in retail shopping for a major Chinese client.

The ‘Lesso’ Mall, named after the client from Guangdong Province, will provide some 1,270,000 square feet of retail space plus associated car parking on a prominent site in Dubai. The project is expected to be completed by the middle of 2020. The revenues from the project, which will be designed and delivered from Dubai, along with other confirmed work, will provide our Dubai operation with revenue visibility over the medium term.

China Lesso Group Holdings Ltd (2128:HKG) is a rapidly expanding industrial conglomerate listed on the Hong Kong stock market with global revenues for the 12 months to 30 June 2017 of £2.2bn and a current market capitalisation of approximately £1.61 bn.

Commenting, CEO Nicholas Thompson said:

“We are delighted to announce this important contract from a most prestigious client.  It is a tangible validation of the expansion of our operations in Dubai and the quality of their work and provides valuable underpinning to the Board’s view of next year’s performance”.