Meggitt's 2015 profit nudges up despite challenging year

Meggitt posted a small rise in 2015 pre-tax profit and lifted its dividend despite what it referred to as a challenging year.

For the year ended 31 December, the aerospace and defence firm said statutory pre-tax profit nudged up 1% to £210.2m from £208.9m in 2014, as revenue grew 6% to £1.65bn.

Chief executive Stephen Young said: "2015 was a challenging year for the group, with volatility across a number of our end markets affecting financial performance. However, we are confident that we are taking the right actions in the context of our long-cycle business.

"The record levels of investment in R&D and new product introduction follow a very successful period of winning work on new platforms. This will drive revenue growth for many decades.”

The company said it made good progress against its key strategic initiatives during the year. In particular, deployment of the Meggitt Production System, its global continuous improvement programme, is resulting in tangible improvements in a number of operational and customer satisfaction metrics.

In addition, Meggitt said it has created a centralised customer service and support organisation focused on delivering enhanced aftermarket growth through greater market proactivity and responsiveness.

It proposed a final dividend of 9.80p, bringing the full-year dividend to 14.40p up 5% from the previous year.

Meggitt said it expects organic revenue growth this year of low single digit percentage points, in line with the guidance given in December.

At 0923 GMT, Meggitt shares were up 4.8% to 404.70p.