Growing airline orders boost Umeco
UMECO, which supplies composite materials used in the latest passenger jets, Formula 1 cars and wind turbines, said today that it had seen an “encouraging” 36% rise in revenues in its last trading quarter.
The group, which is based in Leamington Spa and has its Aerovac factory in Keighley, will tell shareholders at its AGM later today that orders are “solid” with its order book up 29% on last year.
Umeco said that trading in the three months to June 30 was 36% ahead while net debt had increased to £83.2m from £57.6m at the end of March mainly because of additional investment in working capital to cope with growing activity.
Following the sales of several of its operations Umeco now concentrates on two core areas of business, what it calls composites and supply chain.
Its composites business, which includes the Aerovac operation, provides composite materials and specialist chemical products to the aerospace, motor sport and automotive, and wind energy markets while the supply chain arm provides distribution and supply chain outsourcing services to equipment manufacturers in the aerospace and defense markets.
Its customers include Airbus, Boeing, BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce and McLaren Mercedes. The group is working with Boeing on its B787 Dreamliner and with Airbus on the double-decker A380.
It said its composites operation had “traded strongly in the quarter, reflecting the ongoing growth in the use of advanced composite materials in the business stream’s core markets of aerospace, automotive and wind energy”.
It said Aerovac had enjoyed a strong first quarter and performed ahead of expectations.
It said its supply chain business “has a healthy pipeline of further significant potential contracts from both current and prospective customers”.
The group, which had revenues of £335.2 in the year to March 31, said: “With their strong market positio ns and high levels of organic revenue growth, the group’s core businesses of composites and supply chain offer many attractive opportunities.
“Growth is expected not only from the aerospace market but also from the other markets we serve, including the fast expanding wind energy sector, as environmental pressures continue to enhance the attractiveness of advanced composite materials.
“We continue to see positive indicators in the civil aerospace industry – the high number of aircraft orders announced at the Farnborough airshow provides further evidence that long term prospects for the aerospace market remain strong; t he high level of economic growth in the Middle and Far East is expected to provide the aerospace market with resilience against current macro economic conditions; and the Airbus A380 , A350 and Boeing 787 programmes offer the potential for significant growth in the coming years.
“In summary, Umeco has experienced another encouraging period of trading performance and the outlook remains positive,” it added.
