25th Feb 2014 07:55
LONDON (Alliance News) - GKN PLC said Tuesday that pretax profit fell to GBP484 million for the year, as the firm faced challenges in some of its end markets and recorded smaller gains on FX contracts.
The firm, which makes the wings for Airbus planes, said pretax came in 15% lower, down from the GBP568 million reported last year. GKN said that the decrease was primarily attributable to a smaller gain on the mark to market of foreign exchange hedging contracts than in 2012.
On a management basis, pretax profit increased to GBP578 million, from GBP493 million, said the firm.
In its results for the year to December 31 2013, earnings per share rose by 9% to 28.7 pence, from 26.3 pence last year.
The GKN board has recommended a final dividend of 5.3 pence per share; the firm therefore boosts its total dividend per share by 10% to 7.9 pence from 7.2 pence per share, payable May 21 2014 to shareholders on the register at April 11 2014.
Sales were buoyed 10% on a management basis, reaching GBP7.6 billion, up 10% from GBP6.9 billion last year, on a reported basis, sales rose 10% to GBP7.1 billion from GBP6.5 billion.
The firm, which operates in the global aerospace, automotive and land systems markets, said its results for the year reflect the, "continued strong organic growth in Automotive businesses, the contribution from GKN Aerospace Engine Systems (previously Volvo Aero) and the weaker performance of GKN Land Systems."
The firm noted that the contribution from GKN Aerospace Engine Systems for the year, its first full year of GKN ownership, recorded GBP656 million in sales and a GBP92 million trading profit, including a GBP4 million restructuring provision release, resulting in a trading margin of 14.0%.
Chief Executive Nigel Stein said, "We have again made good progress in-line with our strategy to grow a market-leading global engineering business. Although some of our end markets were challenging, we continued to show growth and are reporting good underlying financial results, helped by our 2012 acquisition of GKN Aerospace Engine Systems, which performed strongly. We expect the Group's progress to continue in 2014."
Shares in GKN last traded at 414.9 pence per share.
By Alice Attwood; [email protected]; @AliceAtAlliance
Copyright © 2014 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
GKN PLC