Wiltshire gas mask manufacturer announces record orders

Wiltshire gas mask manufacturer Avon Protection has announced record orders of £156m.

The company has announced a series of  significant strategic wins and orders in the first half  of the year including a new contract award worth up to £38m for the UK Ministry of Defence.

Other deals a $36m contract with the US Department of Defence.

The firm is currently building production capacity for DOD programmes in Cleveland, Ohio.

The company said it is confident for the outlook in the second half and is predicting revenue growth of 10 per cent.

Adjusted operating profit for the first half of the year was £9.3m.

Jos Sclater, Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are making excellent progress towards our medium-term goals and are increasingly excited by the growing momentum in our transformation programme.

“The results in H1 demonstrate that our strategy is working and pace is increasing, though we still have a lot to do. The work we have done so far to drive improvement has revealed further opportunities for operational improvement; this reinforces our confidence that we will deliver our medium-term goals.

“We are seeing a growing awareness of the importance of high-quality protection against chemical warfare and head injury. In particular, Russia’s deployment of chemical weapons in Ukraine has highlighted the need for effective respiratory protection. As the leading supplier of mission-critical head and respiratory protection to the US Department of Defence and other NATO countries, we are well positioned to help protect the people who are protecting us.

“More broadly, I am very pleased that we now have a much stronger business that is delivering on major programmes and is improving fast. We have moved quickly into execution phase of our STAR strategic plan and are already seeing productivity improvement, new contract wins and further innovation to revolutionise our world leading product portfolio.”