Engineering group announces another 100 job cuts – and a dividend increase

INTERNATIONAL engineering group Meggitt has increased its full-year dividend despite increasing its job cuts by another 100 people.

The group had previously announced 300 job cuts in October and has since increased the “target headcount reduction” to 400 because of deteriorating energy markets.

Meggitt has two operations in the West Midlands – braking systems in Coventry and precision micro in Birmingham.

It expects the job losses to incur a further exceptional charge of £8m in the current financial year, in addition to the £5m cost in its 2015 accounts.

The FTSE 250 group increased its full-year dividend by 5% to 14.4p. Its 2015 revenues were up 6% to £1.65bn while pre-tax profits edged up 1% to £210.2m

Meggitt’s chief executive Stephen Young is confident the business is “taking the right actions in the context of our long-cycle business”.

He said: “2015 was a challenging year for the group, with volatility across a number of our end markets affecting financial performance.
 
“The record levels of investment in R&D and new product introduction follow a very successful period of winning work on new platforms.  This will drive revenue growth for many decades.”