Orders reviving at Meggitt

3rd Aug 2010 07:44

Engineering group Meggitt said order intake for its civil aerospace business improved in the second quarter while military revenues should pick up in the second half.Revenue in the first half of 2010 fell 6% to £549.7m from £586.4m in the first half of 2009.Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation edged up to £171.0m from £169.5m the year before, while underlying profit before tax improved 3% to £116.2m from £112.3m. Statutory pre-tax profit fell by 34%, however, to £66.3m from £100.1m.The underlying operating margin improved to 25.7% from 24.0%."Our cost reduction programme has continued to make excellent progress, demonstrated by the improvement in our operating margins and we are on track to exceed our cost reduction targets by 10%. The group has continued to focus on strong cash generation, and the $600m US private placement completed in the first half significantly reduces our refinancing requirements in 2012 and 2013," said Terry Twigger, chief executive of Meggitt.The interim dividend has been raised to 2.85p from 2.70p.