Acquisitions more than doubled first half revenue at engineer Avingtrans ’ (AVG) aerospace division to £20.5m, and generated a two-thirds increase at the energy and medical unit. Profits grew, too, but were flattered by a big one-off item.
Margins at the aerospace business jumped about 300 basis points during the period to within a whisker of double-digits. Expect further improvement through the second half, as the composites business nears break-even and last year’s Farnborough acquisition generates regular profits. But strip out a £2.9m cash benefit from the purchase of loss-making oil and gas business Maloney, and the energy and medical division made an underlying operating loss of £1.6m. And Avingtrans will make nothing from supplying parts for Siemens MRI scanners following further delays transferring volume production to China.