MS International shares down due to difficult defence market
MS International said its defence division drove the company's revenues down during the first half of the year due to a "difficult environment" in the market.
FTSE AIM All-Share
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Industrial Engineering
14,053.01
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MS International
925.00p
16:55 08/05/24
Defence revenues dropped 28% due to governments' budget reductions and constraints on defence spending, the group said. Political uncertainty in some of the markets where the company operates also affected the results.
Revenues declined to £21.7m from £23.3m same time last year, while pre-tax profits plunged to £0.71m from £1.87m.
Earnings per share dropped from 7.9p to 0.6p while cash and equivalents decreased to £12.5m from £14.1m.
Nevertheless, its forgings and petrol station superstructures have made "very good" progress and performed in line with the company's expectations.
Chairman Michael Bell said: "The board believes that appropriate actions have been taken to address the present circumstances under which the group operates, particularly in the defence market although, in the short term, it would be unrealistic to predict any significant upturn in results."
Shares were down 14.64% to 147.25p at 12:18 on Thursday.