Hardide turns in wider H1 loss amid challenging oil & gas market

Hardide's shares dropped almost 6% as it recorded a wider first-half pre-tax loss amid a still-challenging and volatile oil and gas market, but forecast in-line full-year trading.

The company's pre-tax loss was £684,000, from a loss of £624,000.

"There is significant evidence of improvement in demand for the Hardide product in a still challenging and volatile oil and gas market," said chairman Robert Goddard.

"At the same time, the group has made good progress in its diversification and growth strategy with the award of Approved Supplier status from Airbus and encouraging developments with customers in the aerospace and precision engineering sectors," he added.

Overall, said Goddard, with the early signs of recovery in the oil and gas market, particularly in North American onshore drilling, and the expectation of new aerospace business in the near future, the board's outlook was positive.

Directors expected the company's full-year trading performance to be in line with market expectations.

At 11:16 BST, shares in Hardide were down 5.88% to 1.6p each, and off earlier lows.