Chemring First-Half Earnings Rise 7%; Outlook Upbeat

22nd Jun 2010 07:26

By Jonathan Buck Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--U.K. missile-defense company Chemring Group PLC (CHG.LN) Tuesday posted a 7% rise in fiscal first-half pretax profit and gave an upbeat assessment of its prospects. "In spite of many commentators' reservations about the immediate future for the defense industry, the group's order book has reached record levels across all our divisions, and the board believes that we have the products, the services and the dynamism to secure continuing success both in the second six months of this year and in the future," said Chairman Ken Scobie in a statement. Chemring said its order book had grown 16% to GBP651 million from GBP559 million at the end of October 2009. Pretax profit excluding intangible amortization arising from business combinations and loss on fair value movements on derivatives of GBP17 million for the six-month period to April 30 climbed to GBP42.3 million from GBP39.5 million in the same period a year earlier. Revenue jumped 10% to GBP255.9 million from GBP233.5 million but net profit fell to GBP18.4 million from GBP21.5 million. The company increased its interim dividend 21% to 17 pence per share from 14 pence a year ago. In a separate statement, Chemring said Peter Hickson will be appointed as an independent non-executive director from July 1 and will succeed Scobie as chairman following his retirement on October 1. Hickson, 65 years old, currently is chairman of marketing services company Communisis PLC (CMS.LN), senior independent director of London & Continental Railways Ltd., a subsidiary of the U.K.'s Department of Transport, and a non-executive director of mining group Kazakhmys PLC (KAZ.LN). Chemring's shares Monday closed at 3310 pence. They have gained 14% in value since the start of the 2010 and 70% in the past 12 months. -By Jonathan Buck, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)207 842 9237; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 22, 2010 02:26 ET (06:26 GMT)