4th Jun 2014 12:41
LONDON (Alliance News) - MS International PLC Wednesday posted a lowered pretax profit for the 53 weeks ended May 3, hit by a drop in revenues as its Defence division continued to face "extremely tough times."
MS International makes speciality engineering products and services. It maintained its total dividend at 8.0 pence.
In the 53 weeks ended May 3 the company posted a pretax profit of GBP2.9 million, down from GBP4.6 million in the previous year, as revenues declined to GBP47.1 million from GBP54.5 million. MS International restated its comparative period results to reflect amendments to employee benefits.
The company said that its largest division, Defence, continued to be hit by challenging global defence markets, leading to a 30% fall in revenue. MS International has already reduced costs in the division, and said it would be unrealistic to expect the current year to be any easier as defence budgets continued to be squeezed.
Despite this gloomy outlook, MS International saw it was hopeful that the weapon procurement phase for the current UK Royal Navy shipbuilding programme "may not be too far away." It has also seen interest in a number of its new products, which it said will help to broaden its current offering, and are designed to meet requirements in selected markets worldwide.
Outside of Defence, MS International was much more optimistic for the prospects of its Forgings and Petrol Station Superstructures divisions, which it said should continue to prosper.
The company's order book rose to GBP46 million from GBP28 million in the previous year, although it noted that orders related to its defence division are longer term, whereas orders for its other businesses have a short lead time.
MS International moved to the AIM index from a premium listing on the official list last November.
Shares in MS International were trading up 2.0% at 211.60 pence Wednesday afternoon.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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