Chemring's IED detector boosts interims

22nd Jun 2010 07:42

Chemring, the UK military decoy flares and mine detection firm, increased underlying profit in the first half by 7% and has named the successor to chairman Ken Scobie who retires in October after 13 years.Profit before tax and one-off items for the six months to 30 April grew to £42.3m from £39.5m a year ago on revenue from continuing operations up 10% to £255.9m. The order book is 25% higher than in June 2009 at a record £751m.The Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) division did particularly well, with revenue and operating profit doubling as the US army kept snapping up its Husky Mounted Detection System (HMDS) ground penetrating radar.Made by Chemring's Non-Intrusive Inspection Technology (NIITEK) unit, the Americans have just ordered another 76 HMDS systems, worth $106m. Including spares and support, the contract will be worth well over $200m.Ten of the systems were made each month during the first half, but a new production facility will soon get that above 20. It's likely most of these will find their way to Afghanistan to combat the threat of improvised explosion devices (IEDs).A multi-year contract for up to 600 more systems is expected to go out to competition early next year by which time Chemriing will have over 150 radar systems in service.The US Marine Corps has also expressed strong interest in HMDS and a contract is expected shortly, said the company.Meanwhile, Peter Hickson will start at Chemring as an independent non-executive director on 1 July with a view to taking over from Scobie in the autumn. Hickson, 65, is currently chairman of Communisis and a non-executive director of Kazakhmys, and previously chaired Anglian Water and been finance director at Powergen.The interim dividend rises 21% to 17p a share.