Senior PLC
19 December 2005
Senior plc
Pre Close Period Statement
Senior plc, a manufacturer of high technology components and systems,
principally for the Aerospace and Automotive markets, issues this trading update
for the twelve month period to 31 December 2005.
Overall, trading remains in line with that anticipated at the time of the
interim statement on 3 August 2005. Consequently, the Group's adjusted profit
before tax(1) for the full year is expected to be ahead of that reported for
2004. Year-end net debt will, as anticipated, be slightly higher than the £59.1m
reported at June 2005, primarily due to the continued high levels of capital
expenditure in the Automotive Division.
Aerospace Divisional sales have improved during the period as the overall civil
aircraft market continues to recover and the military and defence sector remains
at a healthy level. Within the civil market, business jets enjoyed strong growth
but regional jet build rates continued to weaken. Deliveries of large civil
aircraft, built by Boeing and Airbus, increased in the period and, with 1,514
aircraft ordered in the first eleven months of the year compared to the 605
delivered, their order books remain strong. Consequently, the aerospace market
continues to present solid opportunities for growth as build rates increase and
manufacturers seek to outsource production of some products to make way for the
newer and larger aircraft.
In the Automotive Division, sales have been slightly better than expected,
despite overall vehicle sales in both the European and US markets remaining
weak. This improved position is mainly due to a combination of new programme
start-ups at a number of operations, diesel engines continuing their market
share increase in Europe and a favourable product mix in the USA, where a higher
proportion of front wheel drive cars were built and sold.
Investment in plant and equipment required to manufacture new products for the
North American heavy truck diesel engine market, as it converts to common rail
technology to meet the new emission laws in early 2007, continues according to
plan. In addition, new opportunities in the diesel market have necessitated the
recruitment of additional engineering resources.
In the Industrial Division, improved demand from the energy sector and healthy
export markets have led to greatly improved performances at Pathway and Canada.
At Hargreaves, its contract on the new Wembley stadium has proved to be
difficult but is now close to completion. Overall, the Division is expected to
deliver a strong profit improvement over 2004 and future prospects remain
encouraging.
The 2005 full year results will be announced on 2 March 2006.
(1) adjusted profit is that before goodwill impairment, profit / loss on sale
of operations and fixed assets
For further information please contact:
Senior plc
Graham Menzies, Group Chief Executive 01923 714702
Mark Rollins, Group Finance Director 01923 714738
Finsbury Group
Adrian Howard 020 7251 3801
This announcement, together with other information on Senior plc may be found
at: 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 systems
for the principal original equipment producers in the worldwide aerospace,
automotive and specialised industrial markets
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
*A Private Investor is a recipient of the information who meets all of the conditions set out below, the recipient:
Obtains access to the information in a personal capacity;
Is not required to be regulated or supervised by a body concerned with the regulation or supervision of investment or financial services;
Is not currently registered or qualified as a professional securities trader or investment adviser with any national or state exchange, regulatory authority, professional association or recognised professional body;
Does not currently act in any capacity as an investment adviser, whether or not they have at some time been qualified to do so;
Uses the information solely in relation to the management of their personal funds and not as a trader to the public or for the investment of corporate funds;
Does not distribute, republish or otherwise provide any information or derived works to any third party in any manner or use or process information or derived works for any commercial purposes.
Please note, this site uses cookies. Some of the cookies are essential for parts of the site to operate and have already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from this site, but if you do, parts of the site may not work. To find out more about the cookies used on Investegate and how you can manage them, see our Privacy and Cookie Policy
To continue using Investegate, please confirm that you are a private investor as well as agreeing to our Privacy and Cookie Policy & Terms.