Chemring on track to meet FY expectations

Defence company Chemring said on Monday that it expects results for the year to the end of October to be in line with market views, with a slight upside from foreign exchange gains.

The group said revenue in the final quarter of the year was about £188m, up 51% from the same period last year. Revenue for full-year 2016 was approximately £477m, up from £377.3m. At constant currency, this figure would be around £440m.

The order book at the end of October stood at about £593m, compared to £569.6m the year before.

Chemring said the weakening of the pound, namely against the US dollar, accounts for about £103m of the growth in the order book. On a constant currency basis, the order book dropped year-on-year against a strong prior year period which contained all of the 40mm ammunition contract.

Net debt at the end of last month stood at approximately £88m, down from £154.3m in 2014.

Chemring said that £29.5m of its £153.4m outstanding US private placement loan notes will be repaid on Monday from existing cash resources. The remaining loan notes are due to be repaid in November next year and November 2019.