Bullish profit forecasts push engineering group’s shares to four-year high

Shares in engineering group Chamberlin closed at a four-year high after investors responded to an upbeat statement on its profits.

At the close, shares were up 15.7% at 121.5p – the highest since February 2013.

It is trading more than 140% higher than it was in the post-referendum dip at the start of July last year.

The Walsall-based specialist castings group told the stock market its full year results are likely to be in line with expectations following a strong second half.

In an update for the financial year to March 31, 2017, the company cheered shareholders by saying underlying profitability would be ahead of the prior year.

Looking ahead, the Chuckery-based company’s new machining facility in Walsall was officially opened at the end of March following a £3.8m investment. It said this was expected to help drive additional growth opportunities as well as support existing contracts.

Chamberlin announced a statutory post-tax loss of £391,000 in the first half of the last financial year (2015: loss of £367,000) – prompting the decision to close its factory in Leicester, which it said was the least specialised of its three foundries.

The Leicester foundry was taken out of production at the end of February and the decommissioning process is anticipated to conclude by the end of this year, which is expected to place the business on a stronger footing.

“The outlook for Chamberlin’s continuing progress remains very positive and the board looks forward to providing a further update on trading towards the end of May 2017 with the publication of the company’s preliminary results,” it said.