Hampson to miss profits target

Shares in the engineering group Hampson Industries fell to a seven-year low yesterday after the firm issued a profits warning.

The aero-engineering specialist said there had been a slowdown in its aircraft tooling division, and as a consequence full-year profits would fall below market expectations.

Hampson's stock closed the day down 60.98 per cent, at 20p, after the announcement. "Our largest tooling business has been impacted by order delays across a number of aircraft programmes," said finance director Howard Kimberly.

The group warned in June that its tooling units were struggling to recover from the downturn in the airline industry. It also supplies the defence and space sectors.

Before yesterday's disclosure, Hampson had been expected to post a pre-tax profit of between £21.7m and £28m for the 12 months to March 2011.