City briefs; Meggitt, Secure Trust Bank
Ansty-based manufacturer of components for the power and aerospace industries Meggitt, says it has a strong order book as the civil aerospace industry continues to recover.
The firm delivered an 11% increase in organic revenues £821m in the first half of the year (H1 2021: £680m) and has seen a 15% rise in its profit before tax at £63.6m (H1 2021: £48.4m).
During this period, Meggitt completed the disposal of its Danish business for £62.3m and recommended an all cash offer of 800p per share from Parker-Hannifin, which was approved by shareholders last September.
The transaction is expected to complete in the third quarter of 2022.
Tony Wood, Meggitt’s Chief Executive, said: “We are encouraged by the strong recovery in passenger demand for our civil business as airlines bring more aircraft into service and the improving prospects for defence as we come out of a period of significant destocking in the aftermarket.
“The Group has continued to invest in technologies and capabilities to support the decarbonisation of aviation and the delivery of clean energy.
“We are mindful of the challenges that our industry continues to face with availability across the supply chain and continued cost inflation on materials and labour. We remain focused on mitigating these effects and the Group is well placed to do so”.
Specialist lender, the Secure Trust Bank (STB) says it has “continued to build momentum, delivered strong income growth, managed costs effectively and delivered a significant increase in core profit before tax” in the first six months on 2022.
The board said it expected to deliver a lower statutory profit before tax of £24.7m in H1 2022 (H1 2021: £30.7m) as impairment levels normalised and lending growth accelerated.
The Solihull firm’s new business lending volumes increased by 85.8% to £1,121.m (H1 2021: £603.2m).
Lord Forsyth, STB’s Chairman, said: “Our new vision is fully embedded and being driven forward by the Board. We have a well-established and diversified business, an excellent management team and can look forward to the future with confidence.
“The Board is mindful of current uncertainty and how high levels of inflation, the war in Ukraine and the impending changes in the UK government will affect our customers. We will continue to support them during these challenging times and manage our business responsibly.”
David McCreadie, STB’s Chief Executive, said: “The Group has grown lending balances beyond pre-pandemic levels in all our core businesses and achieved record new business volumes.
“We have completed the simplification of the Group, delivered strong income growth and become more efficient. We are committed to navigating our businesses carefully through these uncertain times and will continue to be flexible in how we react during this period of economic uncertainty”.
