Buoyant civil aerospace sector lifts first half performance for Avingtrans

AVINGTRANS has become the second Midlands manufacturer in as many days to say its performance has been strongly influenced by a buoyant civil aerospace sector.

The group, which designs, manufactures and supplies critical components to the aerospace, energy and medical sectors, said in its interim results for the six months ended November 30, 2013, that the boom in the civil aerospace had been directly responsible for a 90% rise in revenues and its order books also remained strong.

The performance mirrors that of Redditch-based GKN, which said its full year performance owed a great deal to the strong civil aerospace sector.
 
“Civil aerospace was the key driver of our increased revenues, which were up by 90% overall, to £32.2m (H1 2013: £16.9m), with the year on year effect of Farnborough and Derby being significant, as well as early revenue from Maloney,” said Avingtrans in its interims statement.

Pre-tax profit was £3m, including £1.7m net from the acquisition of Maloney. This was down on the same period last year, although the £6.5m announced then included £6.1m profit on disposal of its Jena Tec business.

 Roger McDowell, Avingtrans chairman, said: “Our continuing clear focus on the Aerospace, Energy and Medical markets is already paying-off in the case of Aerospace, where acquisitions for Sigma in Derby and Farnborough are performing to expectations and the Composites business is improving.

“As we expected, it has been a busy first half at Energy and Medical, where integration of the Maloney acquisition and the Chinese operational expansion have fully occupied the new divisional MD and senior management team.

“Whilst it is too early to see the results of these activities at Maloney, investors will be pleased to note the substantial potential pipeline of business that is building there, with the current prospect bank exceeding £100m of opportunities. Crown’s fortunes have also improved, with a close to break-even first half and an improving prospect bank.”

“Our strategy is, therefore, on track and our confidence is underlined by our continued dividend progression,” he added.