There has been a lot of inaccurate reporting in the UK Press recently, and similar blog/twitter activity, about AEA's finances and our future.

We want to ensure that our customers and stakeholders are informed about the actual position as we undertake our important financial restructuring.

The aim of the restructuring is to strengthen our long-term financing so that we continue not only to deliver successfully to our customers, as we are doing at present, but to support future development and growth.

Intention of our Financial Restructuring

AEA Group comprises 3 operating companies: AEA Technology plc, which is the trading company for UK customers and in Europe, and PPC and ERG based in the United States.

The Group is profitable and operationally successful. Delivery to our customers is 'business as usual'. Our recently issued 2011/12 Annual Accounts showed:

However, following a Trading Statement in November 2011, AEA Group decided on a financial restructuring to deal with its long-standing balance sheet issues one of which is a deficit in the UK pension scheme which dates back to our privatisation in 1996.

Although we closed the legacy 'defined benefits' scheme to new members in 2003, and to existing members in 2009, like many companies we have found the cash-call to fund the scheme increasingly difficult in the light of increased actuarial life expectancy and decreasing investment yields.

The Group has been in discussion with the Pension Trustee, the Government's Pension Protection Fund, the Pension Regulator, and our Bank, to find a solution to deal with the pension deficit, and our Bank debt.

The resultant financial restructuring, based on a new 3 year strategy and business plan accepted by all stakeholders, involves identifying a new owner for the Group, to realise value and thus discharge liabilities to the Bank and to the pension scheme. Once this new owner had been found our balance sheet will be fully repaired.

Our Bank remains fully supportive during this period of transition. This will enable the Group Board to manage the sale process in an orderly fashion to achieve the best result possible for our customers, business partners and employees.

In the meantime we continue to operate normally, to deliver to our customers, recruit new consultants and win exciting new projects.

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