19th Mar 2020 09:04
(Alliance News) - Meggitt PLC on Thursday said it is too early to give any annual financial guidance, though performance so far this year has met expectations.
The aerospace and defence contractor said that despite a "rapidly changing" environment, trading in January and February met expectations. A full update on first-quarter 2020 trading will be unveiled on April 23.
Christchurch, Dorset-based Meggitt said the outlook in the near-term for its products is uncertain, but it has in place plans to reduce costs and protect liquidity in the coming months.
"At the current time, and in light of a highly fluid market and global macro-economic situation, it is too early to provide earnings guidance for the remainder of the current financial year," said Meggitt.
"We have put in place a set of measures to tightly manage the business and navigate our way through these challenging times. We will continue to monitor external events and manage the situation closely and will keep the market updated on developments as appropriate."
As it noted in annual results issued in late February, as of December 31 Meggitt had net debt including leases of GBP911 million. It had GBP1.56 billion of committed facilities, giving GBP806 million of headroom.
In 2020, there is USD275 million worth of debt maturing for which facilities are in place.
Meggitt also confirmed it is working with a consortium of other UK aerospace suppliers to develop and produce "in large volumes" a ventilator, at the request of the UK government.
Meggitt shares fell 7.3% on Thursday morning in London to a price of 210.00 pence each.
By George Collard; [email protected]
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