26th Apr 2007 11:30
BBA Aviation PLC26 April 2007 BBA AVIATION PLC AGM Statement At today's Annual General Meeting, Michael Harper, Executive Chairman, will makethe following comments on current trading. "In the first three months of the year, trading overall has shown very goodprogress over the first quarter of 2006. In Flight Support, our business aviation activities at Signature have made anencouraging start to the year. Fuelling volumes were up 9% in the first quartercompared with the same period last year, underpinned by demand from thefractional operators. The acquisition of Executive Beechcraft (EB) announcedtoday will add another four high quality locations to our network in the USA andwe are exploring a number of other attractive opportunities to expand thenetwork globally. In ASIG, our commercial aviation business, the efforts toreduce costs and improve competitiveness, combined with a good de-icing seasonin early 2007, led to much improved profitability during the first three monthsof the year. In Aftermarket Services and Systems, demand in engine repair and overhaulcontinues to be robust, reflecting growth across a number of engine maintenanceprogrammes. We are working on a number of incremental licensing opportunities inOntic, which we acquired in early 2006, that will expand further this area ofour business in the second half of 2007 and in 2008. The APPH group has startedthe year well and the integration of CAP, the business acquired in February, ison track to be completed in the summer. Overall trading in our AftermarketServices and Systems businesses was in line with our expectations for the firstquarter of 2007. In conclusion, our businesses performed very well in the first quarter of theyear and we expect to continue to make further good progress on an underlyingbasis in 2007, assisted by strong market conditions and with substantial scopefor organic growth and opportunities for expansion via acquisition. However,with approximately 75% of the group's pre-tax profits denominated in US dollars,the recent weakness of the dollar, if it continues, will have an adverse impacton the translated value of our earnings at both the half and full year. As announced on 24th April, Simon Pryce will join the Board as Chief Executiveof the Group on 11th June. The Board and other members of the executive teamlook forward to working with him to realise BBA Aviation's full potential." Enquiries:BBA Aviation plcMichael Harper, Executive Chairman020 7514 3999 Brunswick Group LLPLucie Anne Brailsford / Jemma Hill020 7404 5959 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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