Cobham hopes its review will lead to take-off
COBHAM, the aerospace engineer, said fi rst-half results were boosted by the performance of its Chelton Avionics arm as it came to the end of a strategic review.
The company has now created six divisions and decided to sell its countermeasures companies, which include Wallop Defence in the UK. It also said yesterday it had agreed to sell its fluid and air division companies to US-based Eaton for £150m. Allan Cook, chief executive, said: “The business going forward is going to focus on five leading technology positions and one in a service sector, and the proceeds of the sale will be used to further our position in these markets.”
Around £25m from the sale will be transferred to Cobham’s pension plan, which has a £69m deficit, he said.
Total sales rose to £501.8m in the fi rst half from £449m the year before. Pre-tax profit slipped to £52.5m from £60.5m as the company changed to a new accounting method, though underlying pre-tax profit rose 15pc to £69.6m. The shares rose 14¾ to 158p, a new high.
Cobham’s order book stands at a record £1.5billion, which Mr Cook said was a “ significant increase on where it was at the beginning of the year”.
He said Chelton, the antenna and defence electronics arm, was driving growth. He said the group had received “ significant orders” from the US Army for communications equipment, while the national security market had seen increased levels of interest.
Cobham also provides aircraft fuel pumps for the new Airbus A380. Mr Cook said: “We are already delivering product to the aircraft so we are already seeing some revenue come through, though most of it will be in 2006-07.”