Airport security technology dominated the small-cap tech news, with two AIM-listed companies securing government or partner-backed deals to expand autonomous and screening systems into aviation infrastructure. Thruvision's largest-ever Asian contract win overshadowed a smaller but strategically significant UK grant for Aurrigo International's airport autonomous vehicles.
Thruvision lands £3m South-East Asian airport screening deal
Thruvision Group (AIM:THRU), the AIM-listed maker of walk-through security screening technology, said its principal regional partner in Asia has won a contract expected to generate more than £3m of revenue for the company. The deal covers multiple high-throughput people-screening systems across several major South-East Asian airports, aimed at screening aviation workers and mitigating insider-threat risks rather than the passenger-facing checks the technology is traditionally known for. News of the win sent shares up 32.0% to 0.825p.
The deployment marks Thruvision's largest Asian installation to date and its third contract worth more than £1m in the region within 14 months, building on the successful use of multiple WalkTHRU lanes at a major cultural event in South-East Asia last year. Delivery is expected during the second half of the financial year ending 31 March 2027, giving the company clear revenue visibility stretching well into next year. Chief executive Victoria Balchin described it as "our largest contract award in Asia to date" and "our second major regional order this calendar year".
"The aviation sector increasingly recognises that security extends well beyond passenger screening, with insider threat becoming a major operational priority worldwide," said Tom Black, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Allenby Capital Ltd.
For a company of Thruvision's scale, a £3m-plus order is a material addition to the revenue base and a validation of the partnership-led model it has used to break into South-East Asia. The pattern of repeat, escalating contract sizes in the region, three deals above £1m inside 14 months, suggests the insider-threat use case is proving as commercially durable as the passenger-screening business that built the company's reputation, and opens a parallel growth channel across events, prisons and logistics sites that could reduce Thruvision's reliance on any single security vertical.
Aurrigo wins £1.43m UK grant for airport autonomous vehicles
Aurrigo International (AIM:AURR) has been awarded £1.43m in UK Government grant funding to explore how autonomous vehicles can improve airport safety, with shares edging up 2.158% to 71.0p on the news. The transport technology company will deploy its Auto-Shuttle vehicles for security patrols, perimeter checks and inspections of runway and taxiway surfaces for cracks, wear or loose debris.
The funding comes through the CAM Pathfinder programme, a £150m UK Government initiative run by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade alongside Zenzic and Innovate UK. Chief executive David Keene said the grant "reflects the quality of our autonomous vehicle technology" and would free up airport staff for tasks requiring human judgement, while Mark Cracknell, programme director at Zenzic, said the funded projects would help demonstrate the safety case for wider deployment.
The grant is small in cash terms next to Thruvision's contract win, but it carries strategic weight: government-backed validation gives Aurrigo a reference case to court commercial airport operators directly, extending its autonomous-vehicle ambitions beyond the logistics and stadium applications it has pursued to date.
