Marine flares arm sold off by Chemring

The defence group Chemring is selling its marine flares manufacturing division for £32m to help it cut debt, buy back shares and put a £2m payment into its pension fund.

The buyer is private equity-owned Drew Marine, which supplies a range of goods and services to ships around the globe.

Chemring Marine is the world's biggest producer of flares for the private yacht and commercial shipping markets.

The parent company said the business no longer fitted its international defence strategy.

Chemring, whose main focus is the defence market, makes ejector seats and pyrotechnic decoys for military aircraft. It had debt of about £317m at the end of January 2012.

Earlier this year, the company said it expected defence markets to be challenging in 2012 as governments reined in spending to bring budget deficits under control.

Shares in the company, which operates in sectors such as countermeasures, pyrotechnics, munitions and counter-IED, closed up 11.1p at 320.7p.