Avingtrans (AVG) generated record sales last year and a trio of aerospace orders worth £125m over 10 years beefed up the order book. Clearly, a series of acquisitions helped the engineer, but organic growth was impressive, too, and the ongoing boom in civil aerospace and improvements elsewhere suggests there's more to come.
Strip out one-off items and pre-tax profit jumped almost 90 per cent to £1.9m, most of it from supplying rigid and flexible pipes to big names like Rolls-Royce. Aerospace sales jumped 71 per cent, and were up by a quarter even before acquisitions. A 16 per cent increase in divisional operating profit would have been higher had it not been for further losses at the composites business. Still, the unit has won more work in Formula One and will lose much less this year. Its new Farnborough unit is profitable and takes Avingtrans into ducts and nacelles, too. But the energy & medical unit is still not pulling its weight. It made just £258,000 profit on sales of £16.1m, largely due to losses at road signs and gantries business Crown, and start-up costs in China, where the company will make parts for Siemens MRI scanners. However, Crown could make money this year and China is almost up and running.
Broker Numis Securities expects adjusted pre-tax profit will double to £3.8m in 2014, giving adjusted EPS of 10p (from 7p in 2013).
AVINGTRANS (AVG) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 141p | MARKET VALUE: | £38.2m | |
| TOUCH: | 138-143p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 141p | LOW: 87p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.1% | PE RATIO: | 29 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 113p* | NET DEBT: | 10% | |
| Year to 31 May | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 37.6 | 1.83 | 5.1 | nil |
| 2010 | 28.6 | 0.47 | 2.4 | nil |
| 2011 | 36.3 | 1.42 | 4.9 | 0.40 |
| 2012 | 32.2 | 0.01 | nil | 1.00 |
| 2013 | 45.3 | 1.34 | 4.9 | 1.50 |
| % change | +41 | - | - | +50 |
Ex-div: 30 Oct Payment: 12 Dec *Includes intangible assets of £11.9m, or 44p a share | ||||
