Defence sales come to the aid of Meggitt

Strong demand for defence products helped the engineering company Meggitt offset some of the effects of the declining civil aerospace industry last year, the group said yesterday.

A fall in the number of new aircraft being built, and a lull in the market for servicing existing planes, contributed to declining sales in the company's civil aerospace business, which manufactures electronic equipment and safety systems for aircraft. But new orders for the company's defence products, which include aerial targets for training armed forces, have helped make up the fall.

Group profits before tax and exceptional items were down by 3 per cent on 2001 to £70.3m. However, profits after exceptional items, at £39m, were 31 per cent lower than the previous year's figure of £56.9m.

Terry Twigger, the chief executive, felt the results were broadly in line with the company's expectations. "It's a pretty robust performance from the group," he said. "Notwithstanding the current political and economic situation, we view the outlook for 2003 with cautious optimism."

The company also announced the acquisition of Caswell, a US-based manufacturer of ground-based targets for defence training purposes. The £16.3m purchase increases the company's presence in the defence sector. Mr Twigger said the company had no further plans for acquisitions, but added that the broad objective of the company was to balance the size of the civil aerospace and defence businesses. Meggitt shares gained 5.5p to close at 162.5p.