Gama Aviation Ltd was established in 1983 by Marwan Khalek and Stephen Wright at Fairoaks Airport, initially providing aircraft charter services with one Beech Baron aircraft.

In 1984 GAL obtained its first AOC and commenced offering business aircraft management services with one aircraft under management in 1988. In 1991 the company commenced working with the Scottish Ambulance Service through Bond Aviation Limited to provide fixed and rotary aircraft. In 1997, GAL acquired Bond Aviation Limited business from Bond Helicopters Group as well as Heathrow Jet Charter, a charter brokerage business. Having established a core platform during the 1990s, GAL focused on expanding its UK aircraft maintenance and service business with the acquisition of Plymouth Executive Aviation in 2001, which provided maintenance capabilities. This was further enhanced by the acquisition of Lees Avionics in 2008, which enabled Gama Group to provide a range of design and installation capabilities.

In 2008 Gama Group acquired Airops Software, a software consultancy and developer of aviation productivity software and PrivatAir Inc (now Gama Aviation LLC), based in Connecticut, USA, which provided Gama Group with a meaningful presence in the United States, the largest business aircraft market in the world. Full FAA maintenance approval was granted in the USA in 2011. The Group opened a number of other bases as part of its international expansion, including in the UAE which offers aircraft management, charter, maintenance and FBO services. Gama Aviation FZ-LLC was awarded an AOC in the UAE in 2010.

Further acquisitions were undertaken in 2011 (trade and assets of Mann Aviation Group Engineering) and 2012 (Ronaldson Airmotive Limited) which expanded Gama Aviation’s engineering and support capabilities. New bases were opened at Sharjah Airport, UAE, and Hong Kong.

On the 8th December 2014, Gama Aviation announced a merger (technically a reverse takeover) with Hangar 8 Plc, creating a company with an estimated market capitalization of £130 million. The deal is due to complete on 6th January 2015, with Gama Aviation Plc becoming the new listed stock.


http://www.gamaaviation.com/


Previous Hangar8 thread

http://www.moneyam.com/InvestorsRoom/posts.php?tid=17094#lastread

Dividend Dates
Released : 07 Nov 2014
RNS Number : 4072W
Hangar 8 Plc
07 November 2014
Hangar 8 plc ("Hangar8" or "the Company")
Dividend dates
Hangar 8, one of Europe's largest operators of privately owned passenger jet aircraft, is pleased to announce that, as
set out in its Final Results for the year ended 30 June 2014 announced yesterday, the Directors have recommended
the payment of a final dividend of 2.3p per ordinary share for the financial year ended 30 June 2014, which can only be
paid after the shareholders have approved it at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting of the Company.
If approved at the AGM, the final dividend will be paid on 19 January 2015 to shareholders on the register of members
of the Company at 5.00pm (UK time) on Friday 19 December 2014. The ex-dividend date for the payment of the final
dividend is Thursday 18 December 2014.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

JV with Hutchison Whampoa & Directorate Change

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4969104

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

2 Feb Cantor... 400.00 Buy

Trading Update & Pre-merger Interim Results
RNS
RNS Number : 9236I
Gama Aviation PLC
31 March 2015



31th March2015



Gama Aviation plc (AIM: GMAA)

("Gama Aviation", "the Company" or "the Group")

Update on the post-merger integration with Hangar 8 plc (Hangar8) and on current trading

Interim results of the former Hangar 8 plc business for the six months to 31 December 2014



Gama Aviation, one of the world's largest business aviation service providers, today announces an update on its post-merger integration with Hangar8, its progress on achieving its targeted synergies and a brief 2015 trading update.



Also announced today are the unaudited half-year results of the pre-merger business for the six months trading period to 31 December 2014 of what was formerly Hangar 8 plc. The unaudited results to 31 December 2014 and the comparatives for the previous year solely relate to those businesses carried on by Hangar8 and do not include the results of Gama Aviation Holdings (Jersey) Limited, which merged with Hanger8 post the period end on 5 January 2015.



Chief Executive's Statement



Post-merger Integration Update



I am very pleased to report that the integration of the two businesses is moving ahead very well and in some areas the progress is better than management's original expectation. The synergies from the integration are also being fully realized as we move through the process and we are confident that these will be achieved in line with expectations. The integration remains firmly on track and will be largely complete by the end of June. We continue to expect the integration synergies to flow through the trading performance in the second half of the current year.



I can also report that during the course of the integration, we have taken the opportunity to review our organizational structure and we have made a number of subtle but important changes which will serve to enhance and strengthen the organization going forward as well as make it much more easily scalable in anticipation of the expected continued growth.



I am also delighted to report that, with very few exceptions, management and staff at all levels have positively embraced the integration process as they are fully bought into the vision and the rational of the merger, where it positions the Group and the opportunities it brings.



Given its importance, the Executive Management Team will of course continue to give the integration process the appropriate level of attention and oversight. However, with the strong Project Management team that we have put in place, we are able to maintain our focus on delivering our near term business objectives and mid-term strategy.



Current Trading Update



The Company has enjoyed a good first quarter trading and overall revenues across the Group are in line with Management expectations. The anticipated organic growth is being realized across all sectors and regions, particularly in the US given their strong economy.



A total of six aircraft have been added to our managed fleet since January, four in the US, one in Europe and one in the Middle East. We have a promising pipeline for new managed aircraft opportunities across all our core regions so we are confident the rate of organic growth will be maintained through the year.



In terms of new markets we are delighted to report that our recently announced Asian joint venture with Hutchison Whampoa (China) Limited is progressing as planned. We are in advance contract negotiations for the management of two aircraft based out of Hong Kong so we still expect to be fully operational in this new and significant growth market during the course of Q2. This venture is not expected to add significantly to our cost base during the start-up phase as we will utilize our existing infrastructure in the region and leverage off existing Group resources and capability.



The anticipated organic growth is also on track in our engineering business. Our Oxford maintenance base is now attracting a significant number of third-party aircraft from outside our managed aircraft fleet. Our US line maintenance operations continue to grow and perform in line with expectations with the new line station in Texas now fully operational. Our FBOs at both Glasgow and Sharjah (UAE) are seeing positive signs of sustained increased levels of business thanks to a concerted marketing effort to raise awareness and promote the benefits of using these facilities.



We continue to enjoy a high percentage of contracted revenue and we remain focused on developing and growing our key special mission and logistics contracts as they provide sustainable contracted revenues and margins. We are actively engaged in tendering for a number of additional long term contracts in various global locations.



Our commitment to divest the Group from the ownership of aircraft that were deployed in the ad-hoc charter market is also on track. One aircraft has already been disposed of, another is under contract, deposit paid and the sale is scheduled to be completed in the next month or so. A third aircraft is under offer and is due to go into contract imminently leaving just one aircraft on the market. We expect to have sold all four aircraft by the end of Q2.



Outlook - building on a strong platform



The new Group has entered its first financial year from January 2015 in a strong position underpinned by the breadth of high quality revenue streams across a broad range of geographical territories and aviation services. With integration proceeding as planned, with synergies expected to flow through the second half of the year and with current trading remaining in line with Management expectations, we remain confident about the outcome for the current financial year.

The rational for the deal was a simple but compelling one; merging the two businesses will create a global leader in the private aviation sector, one with a unique blend of scale, breadth and depth of service offering to our valued clients. It also provided a strong platform for organic and consolidation growth in a growing market.

We continue to look forward to an exciting full first year for the Group and one in which we are confident we will consolidate our position as one of the world's leading provider of private aviation services.

Interim Results - Hangar 8, six month trading period to 31 December 2014



The six month period to 31 December 2014 has been a transformational one for Hangar8 culminating in the merger post period end on 5th January 2015 with Gama Aviation Holdings (Jersey) Limited. During the six month period to 31 December 2014, the Hangar8 executive management team were faced with the challenge of working on the merger deal, an onerous and time consuming task in its own right, whilst at the same time managing the day to day business to deliver the expected operational and financial performance for the period.



To their credit, they managed the balance well with only a marginal reduction in the underlying trading performance against our phased budget, which was noted in the final two months of the period when attention was inevitably diverted to closing the deal with Gama Aviation. The variance in trading performance was also compounded by significant planned downtime for heavy maintenance during the period on multiple aircraft simultaneously having the double effect of reducing charter capacity and increasing the cost base on certain contracts whilst substitute aircraft had to be used. The effect is clearly visible in financial summary below in the reduction in net revenues and the erosion of a few percent in the gross profit margin. These factors were obviously temporary.







Financial Summary:



· Total Revenues £36.3m (2013: £30.2m)

· Net revenue before disbursements £10.8m (2013: £12.5m)

· Gross profit £4.0m (2013: £4.9m)

· Gross margin percentage on net revenue before disbursements of 37% (2013: 39%)

· Underlying EBITDA* £0.8m (2013: £1.2m)

· Loss before tax £3.4m (2013: Profit of £0.4m)





* Underlying EBITDA is arrived at by taking operating profit before depreciation, amortisation, other material one- off items and exceptional items.



We are however aware that notwithstanding our continued good performance, the six month results to 31 December 2014 as reported contain a significant number of items which serve to create an unusual profile to the profit and loss account. These items include, transaction costs of merging the two businesses, marking the closing Hangar 8 plc Balance Sheet to market with regard to US Dollar and Euro foreign exchange rates, together with a complete review of the Hangar 8 plc Balance Sheet at 31 December 2014 in order to update the Hangar 8 plc accounting judgements and estimates to the more conservative approach typically taken by Gama Aviation Holdings (Jersey) Limited. This has resulted in a large number of one-off items in the six month results, primarily relating to doubtful debt provisions, which serve to distort the underlying trading performance of the business.



Summary - Delivering on our Promises



Three months into the merger, we are pleased to have delivered on many of the promises:



· Post-merger integration - On target to be largely completed by the end of June

· Integration Synergies - Expected to flow though in H2/2015 as planned

· Organic growth - being delivered in line with expectations

· New markets - Promised Asia JV with Hutchinson delivered

· Two aircraft under management in Hong Kong by Q2 - On target

· Current Trading - In line with management expectations

· Outlook - Positive, with full year performance expected to be in line with management expectations





Marwan Khalek

Chief Executive Officer

31 March 2015



Sir Ralph Robins, Chairman, commented:



"We are pleased that the new Group enters its first financial year in 2015 in strong health and the reverse merger with Gama Aviation Holdings (Jersey) Limitedhas served to strengthen the breadth and depth of our operations. We now have a comprehensive line of services available to our clients with an enhanced geographical coverage that allows us to be a true global player. We retain our core values and focus on sustainable contracted revenues but now with our global strength we can explore these opportunities more fully than before leveraging off our established expertise.



Gama Aviation is one of the leaders in our sector and we are confident that we have the platform for a sustainable and scalable business we look to the future with confidence."

Trading Update
RNS
RNS Number : 3082M
Gama Aviation PLC
06 May 2015



Gama Aviation Plc (AIM: GMAA)
("Gama Aviation" or the "Company")

Gama Aviation adds five contract aircraft, submits plans for a new hangar in Aberdeen and
completes a global procurement deal for aviation fuel.

Gama Aviation, one of the world's largest business aviation service providers, today announces trading continues to be in-line with Management expectations after a strong period of activity in April.

· The aircraft management contracts have seen Gama Aviation's organic growth in 2015 continue
in-line with Management expectations. Two aircraft - both Bombardier Global business jets - will be operated out of Hong Kong (as part of the Gama Hutchinson joint venture), a Challenger and a Gulfstream 550 will be UK based and a Gulfstream V will be based in Mumbai, India.

· The signing of the contract for the Gulfstream V marks a significant step for Gama Aviation as it represents the company's first managed aircraft in the Indian sub-continent; a target market for organic growth within the existing business plan.

· Gama Aviation's global fuel deal, (based on previous Group wide consumption figures of 40+ million litres1) will lead to much improved fuel rates at over 400 global locations The announcement comes at a time when global jet A1 fuel prices reached US$76.02/bbl2 - 8.6% higher than a month previously.

· The fuel deal is a tangible demonstration of Gama Aviation's strategy to grow market share using scale to create quantitative competitive advantage in the highly fragmented aircraft management market (80% of fleet operators in Europe manage 2-5 aircraft, with only 9 managing 20 or more3)

· Planning has been submitted for a new facility in Aberdeen to serve the Scottish east coast and Gama Aviation's multi-year contract with NHS Scotland. If planning is approved, and subject to Management approval, the new hangar will open in 2016. The completed hangar will be Gama Aviation's third facility in Scotland, the other two being located at Glasgow International Airport.





Marwan Khalek, CEO of Gama Aviation Plc commented:

"As per our 31st March announcement, current trading, including a strong period of activity in April, remains in-line with the Management's expectations of our full year performance. The new aircraft management contracts and the planned development at Aberdeen, demonstrate the success of our organic growth strategy that runs in parallel to our acquisition interests. Our fuel deal represents the cost efficiencies we bring as a scale operator. With fuel representing a large percentage of an aircraft owners operational cost, the savings we bring translate directly into quantifiable, competitive advantage in the negotiation of new and existing contracts."

1 Internal company data

2 Data correct as of 23rd April 2015, courtesy of IATA/Platts fuel price analysis

3 Gama Aviation analysis of EBAA data, October 2014



Ends

H1/2015 Trading Update
RNS
RNS Number : 2956S
Gama Aviation PLC
07 July 2015

7th July 2015

Gama Aviation plc (AIM: GMAA)

("Gama Aviation", the "Company" or the "Group")



H1/2015 Trading Update

Gama Aviation Plc - "On-Track"

Gama Aviation Plc, one of the world's largest business aviation service providers, is pleased to provide an update on trading for the six months to 30 June 2015, ahead of its interim results which will be announced in full by the end of September 2015.

The Board is pleased to report that the six month period has seen the business delivering on the strategic objectives that were set out at the time of the reverse takeover of Hangar8 plc in early January 2015.

· Overall trading performance across the Group was in line with management expectations;

· The Gama Aviation and Hangar8 businesses have been successfully integrated within the first half, delivering synergies at least in line with expectations;

· Organic growth continues with the addition of further new aircraft across its global operations and a strong order book for its European Ground business;

· Geographical expansion continues with:

o the launch of a Hong Kong Joint Venture with Hutchinson Whampoa and the introduction into service of its first two managed aircraft in the region; and

o strong growth within the US operations, particularly in ground operations where the rollout of new bases is ahead of schedule.

One of the primary drivers of the reverse merger was to create a global aviation service business, and in so doing offering Gama Aviation's customers a premium service anywhere in the world whilst also economically insulating the Company's revenues and profitability from the different geographical economic cycles.

This strategy has worked well during the six month period enabling the group to benefit from a faster than expected growth in the US market which has helped to offset the recent and continuing Eurozone stagnation, as well as the Oil and Gas sector which has had a negative effect within the former Hangar8 business depressing overall European Air operations.

The Board believes that it is testament to the global strength of Gama Aviation's business model both geographically and in terms of service offerings that such regional dips in performance, which management believe to be temporary, can be absorbed without any adverse impact on the Company's ability to meet overall trading expectations. With many parts of the Group's global operations performing ahead of expectations, including those within Gama Aviation's European Ground operations, overall trading for the period remains firmly in line with management expectations and the full year outlook remains positive.

Marwan Khalek, CEO of Gama Aviation Plc commented:

"I am, of course, very pleased with our positive trading update and that our performance remains in line with expectations. However, for me the most pleasing aspect of the last six months has been our ability to deliver against all the key objectives that we set ourselves in January. Chief amongst these has been the integration and re-organisation of the business post-merger, and to be able to report that it has been successfully completed is of course a great achievement for the management team and is a significant milestone.

We are now a single entity that operates with a class-leading platform of infrastructure and management around which we can now drive our scale, breadth and depth and aggressively build our growth both organically and acquisitively. In the meantime, we will of course continue to fine-tune and strengthen the platform and our attention has already turned to the 'optimisation' phase during which we will seek to further streamline our business processes and our corporate structure so as to make our operations more efficient, more productive and to extract further cost and revenue synergies.

With a solid trading performance for the first half of the year, with integration and other key objectives delivered, and with the excellent platform that we now have, I am confident that the full year outlook remains positive and in line with market expectations. The underlying strategic rationale for the merger was to create the platform to take advantage of some unique opportunities in a highly fragmented and growing market - six months into our journey I am very pleased that both our current performance and our strategy are firmly on-track."

7 Jul Cantor... 400.00 Buy

Interim results

Operational highlights:

· Integration completed on schedule

· Synergies flowing through into second half of 2015 in line with management expectations

· Executed on Asia joint venture and growth in line with management expectations

· Strong organic revenue and margin growth in the US, particularly in ground operations

· Strong, scalable, client experience centric and safety first operational delivery platform in place

· Focus on continued growth complemented by strategic acquisition opportunities

30 Sep Cantor... 400.00 Buy

16/02/2016 BUY Sir Ralph Robins CH 10,000
16/02/2016 BUY Kevin Godley FD 20,000
16/02/2016 BUY Stephen Wright ED 25,000
16/02/2016 BUY Peter Brown NED 10,000

Approval of acquisition of Aviation Beauport Ltd
RNS
RNS Number : 2539P
Gama Aviation PLC
17 February 2016

17 February 2015

Gama Aviation Plc (AIM: GMAA)
("Gama", "Gama Aviation" or the "Company")

Approval by Jersey Competition Authority of the acquisition of Aviation Beauport Limited

Further to the announcement of 8 January 2016, Gama Aviation Plc, one of the world's largest business aviation service providers, is pleased to announce the approval by the Jersey Competition Authority of the acquisition by Gama Aviation of Aviation Beauport Limited; a privately owned Jersey based business offering a range of business aviation services. Completion of the acquisition will take place at midnight on 29 February 2016.

As part of the consideration for the acquisition, the Company will issue 1,000,000 new ordinary shares in the capital of the Company. Application is being made for the new ordinary shares to be admitted to trading on AIM ("Admission") and it is expected that Admission will become effective on 1 March 2016.

Following the issue of the new ordinary shares, there will be 43,994,442 ordinary shares in issue. The Company does not hold any Ordinary Shares in treasury and therefore this figure may be used by shareholders of the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Interim results

19 Sep
Cantor...
200.00
Hold

European Maintenance Agreement

RNS


RNS Number : 5266V

Gama Aviation PLC

31 January 2017




Press release

WIJET signs European maintenance agreement with Gama Aviation.

Farnborough, 31st January 2017. Gama Aviation Plc's (AIM:GMAA), European Ground division is pleased to announce the signature of a Europe-wide maintenance agreement with WIJET, which recently acquired Blink.

From its Oxford (UK) base, Gama Aviation will provide full base and line maintenance support for WIJET's fleet of fifteen Cessna Citation Mustangs, in addition to providing AOG support across Europe to ensure aircraft availability. The first Mustang has already arrived at Oxford to begin routine checks; the other fourteen are due by the end of April.



Pat Marchant, Head of Maintenance, WIJET comments: "Our business is reliant on maintaining aircraft availability. Gama Aviation has a long history of providing mission critical support to fleets around the world and as such is an ideal partner to provide maintenance support across Europe."



The contract award comes at a time of growth for Gama Aviation's Oxford base. Within the last six months, the base has added considerably to its EASA and FAA maintenance approvals, and it now supports the Citation Mustang (the aircraft operated by Wijet) as well as the 560 XLS, King Air 90-300 series, Learjet 45 and Premier 1, and larger aircraft such as Bombardier's Global, Challenger and Embraer's Legacy series.



Marwan Khalek, Group Chief Executive, Gama Aviation Plc comments: "Following the National Police Air Service ("NPAS") contract win, the European Ground business has continued its strong start to the year. This deal demonstrates the scale, breadth and depth of our Ground offer; its benefit to clients who value mission critical support and our ability to grow our business organically worldwide."

Full results

Financial Highlights
·      Record Total Group revenues of $432.4m, up 12.6% (2015: $383.9m)
·      Underlying profit before tax of $13.7m, up 3.8% (2015: $13.2m)
·      Net debt of $19.4m (2015: $9.0m) reflecting acquisitions and Aberdeen hangar development
·      Cash generation from operations improved to an inflow of $2.2m compared to an outflow of $14.1m in 2015
·      Dividend per share up 4% to 2.6p per share (2015: 2.5p)
·      2017 trading in line with management expectations


Operational Highlights
·      Aircraft under management up 12.2% to 165 (2015: 147)
·      US Air revenue up 30% driven by contract wins
·      Transformative deal signed on 1 January 2017 with BBA Aviation Plc in the US Air division  
·      Europe Air revenue down 5% due to exiting underperforming contracts
·      Europe Air restructuring successfully completed 
·      US Ground revenue up 15% driven by 3 new line maintenance bases
·      Europe Ground revenue down 20% due to lower levels of discretionary spend 
·      Europe Ground delivered 20% operating margin despite challenging market
·      Acquisitions fully integrated into the Air and Ground divisions in Europe
·      Recent multi-year contract wins in the Air and Ground divisions in Europe
·      Strong progress establishing Middle East and Asia platforms
·      Simplified corporate structure and strengthened management team  

ST of IC today - I feel that a return to growth this year should deliver further upside and so have upgraded my target price to 250p. Buy.

08:40 11/04/2017
Broker Forecast - Cantor Fitzgerald issues a broker note on Gama Aviation Plc
Cantor Fitzgerald today reaffirms its buy investment rating on Gama Aviation Plc (LON:GMAA) and raised its price target to 270p (from 230p). Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

ST of IC - I am upgrading my target price to a range between 275p and 300p to reflect the operational improvements being made and de-risking of earnings estimates. Buy.y -

8 Nov
Jefferies...
330.00
Buy

Admission of Placing Shares to Trading on AIM
Gama Aviation Plc ("Gama Aviation" or the "Company"), the global business aviation services provider, is pleased to announce the Admission of 19,591,837 new ordinary shares of one pence each in the Company to trading on AIM at 8:00am today. Accordingly, the Company has successfully raised gross proceeds of £48 million pursuant to the Placing. The gross proceeds of the Placing will be used to accelerate the group's strategy of becoming the leading global business aviation services group.

Following the Placing, the Company's Enlarged Issued Share Capital will comprise 63,611,279 Ordinary Shares. No Ordinary Shares are held in treasury. Accordingly, this figure of 63,611,279 Ordinary Shares may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculation by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the AIM Rules for Companies or the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

Further to Admission occurring, Mr Simon To has also become a director of the Company with effect from Admission pursuant to the terms of the Relationship Agreement entered into with Hutchison Whampoa (China) Limited on 9 February 2018.