Senior struggles to cope with aerospace calamity
EnginEEr Senior stumbled after it laid bare the havoc the Covid crisis has wrought on companies further down the aerospace supply chain.
Airlines were hit almost immediately through the mass cancellation of flights – but it took longer for it to become clear the impact it was having on plane makers.
now Senior, which provides parts that Boeing and Airbus use to make planes, has been forced to cut another 12pc of its staff after calculating the plunge in international travel will wipe out nearly a third of its turnover between January and June.
in total, the group has axed 17pc of its global workforce – or around 1,400 people – since last June, when it had 8,200 employees.
it had already been struggling last year after Boeing’s bestselling 737 Max planes were grounded following two deadly crashes.
That prompted a smaller-scale restructuring.
But now it is settling down for the long haul, widening this costcutting scheme as it foresees a ‘prolonged contraction’ brought on by the pandemic.
Most of the industries it works in are flagging – though defence and medical work has stayed strong.
Analysts at Credit Suisse said they were impressed with the amount of cash Senior managed to bring in. But shares fell 2.1pc, or 1.3p, to 59.3p by the close, bringing losses so far this year to around two-thirds as investors have hit the ejector button. Water giants Severn Trent, Pennon Group and United Utilities moved higher despite a damning report from MPs, who urged regulator Ofwat to start publishing league tables of water companies’ performance in a bid to halt leaks that could deprive parts of England of water within 20 years. Severn Trent shares climbed 0.8pc, or 18p, to 2379p, Pennon rose 1.6pc, or 16.5p, to 1081p, while United Utilities rose 0.6pc, up 5p, to 867p.
After a downbeat start to the trading day, London markets finished the week on a brighter note, with the FTSE 100 reversing early losses to close up 0.76pc, or 45.79 points, to 6095.41.
it was given an extra boost by data from drugs developer gilead, which showed there was a reduced risk of death from coronavirus among those who took its remdesivir treatment.
The FTSE 250 rose 1.15pc, or 194.84 points, to 17179.97.
Cruise holidays may still be off the cards for Britons, but there was good news from the world’s largest cruise operator.
Carnival jumped 4.5pc, or 42p, to 986p after unveiling plans for a phased return of a smaller fleet of ships, adding that it is still seeing demand for new bookings from 2021. Chief executive Arnold Donald said Carnival was ‘reorganising the company to emerge stronger, leaner and more efficient’.
The shareholder row at gold miner Petropavlovsk took yet another turn. A russian investor’s attempts to remove temporary directors was delayed by a court, which led them to call a general meeting in a bid to appoint people to the board that they have cherry picked. Shares ended up higher by 9.2pc, or 2.4p, at 28.45p
But mid- cap insurer Hastings was under pressure after one of its top investors, goldman Sachs, put 22m shares in the group up for sale. The US lender’s merchant banking division priced them at 177p, Bloomberg reported, which was more than 6pc lower than at Thursday’s close.
in line with this, Hastings’ shares dropped 6.9pc, or 13.1p, to 176p, sending it to the bottom of the FTSE 250 leaderboard.
Luxury marque Aston Martin still couldn’t catch a break. Shares fell for a second session – down 0.04pc, or 0.02p, to 45.98p – despite its first DBX SUV rolling off the production line on Thursday.