Meggitt posts rise in profit

Meggitt, which supplies flight displays and wheels to planemakers Airbus and Boeing reported an underlying pre-tax profit of £146.2m on revenues 18 per cent higher at £649.8m for the six months to the end of June.

The company, which earlier this year acquired Danaher’s component business PacSci for $685m, raised its interim dividend by 12 per cent to 3.20 pence per share and said the outlook was positive, especially for the civil aerospace market.

“Over the five years to 2015 we expect our revenues from civil equipment to grow at an average rate of around 7-8 per cent per annum, helped by strong growth in business jets and new platform introductions including the Boeing 787, Airbus A350 and Bombardier CSeries,” it said in a statement.

Commercial aircraft demand is picking up as air travel recovers and funds return to the leasing market. Soaring oil prices, meanwhile, are forcing airlines to renew fleets with more fuel-efficient planes.

As such, Boeing and Airbus have both increased production rates in recent months. This helped British aero engineer Senior to post a 17 per cent rise in first-half profit on Monday.

Meggitt, which also announced on Monday that it had won a $190m wheel and brake improvement contract with the US Air Force, said its military division was likely to deliver growth of around 2 per cent a year in the coming years but said questions over U.S. defence spending “makes for an uncertain environment.”