27th Apr 2007 11:30
Senior PLC27 April 2007 At Senior plc's Annual General Meeting held today, Chairman, James Kerr-Muir,said: "Senior delivered a strong performance in 2006. Compared to the prior year,sales increased by 15%, adjusted operating profit rose by 32% and adjustedearnings per share increased by 22%. The Group's Aerospace and Flexonics Divisions both reported improved operatingresults in 2006. Aerospace performed particularly well, with the groupcapitalising on the continuing strong demand for commercial aircraft, andbenefiting from the excellent contribution of the two businesses acquired in2006, Sterling Machine and AMT. For the first time in seven years, an increase in the dividend is beingproposed. It is envisaged that this is the first step towards a progressivedividend policy and demonstrates the Board's confident outlook for the Group. The strong demand for commercial aircraft has continued as expected through thefirst quarter of 2007 with both Airbus and Boeing reporting increased productionlevels, orders in excess of deliveries and consequently larger order books. Inthe Flexonics Division, all of the Group's new heavy duty diesel products forthe North American market are now in production and prospects for futuredevelopments in this sector remain healthy. Markets for the Group'senergy-related products have been strong, fuelled by the buoyant oil and gas,emissions and solar markets. Passenger vehicle markets in both Europe and theUSA have been flat. It was previously announced that I would be retiring from the Board this yearand I can now confirm that, after more than ten years as a Director of theCompany and six years as non-executive Chairman, I will be stepping down on 1May 2007. I am pleased to welcome Martin Clark, a non-executive Director of theCompany for six years, as the new non-executive Chairman and David Best, whowill be joining the Board as a non-executive director on the same day. Overall, the Group has started 2007 strongly with trading for the first threemonths of the year in line with the Board's expectations. The Group is wellplaced for future growth and I wish it every success for the future." For further information please contact: Senior plcGraham Menzies, Group Chief Executive 01923 714702Mark Rollins, Group Finance Director 01923 714738 Finsbury GroupAdrian Howard 020 7251 3801 This announcement, together with other information on Senior plc may be foundat: www.seniorplc.com Note to Editors: Senior is an international manufacturing group with operations in 11 countries.Senior designs, manufactures and markets high technology components and systemsfor the principal original equipment producers in the worldwide civil aerospace,defence, diesel engine, exhaust system and energy markets. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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