Gama Aviation PLC on Friday said it was able to increase revenue in its first half despite a challenging economic climate, but ‘remains understandably cautious’ in its outlook for the rest of this year.

Gama, an aviation services company based in Farnborough, England, said its pretax loss grew to $4.6 million from $4.0 million. Adjusted pretax loss, which excluded items such as foreign exchange losses and restructuring costs, widened to $2.4 million from $576,000.

Revenue increased 4.1% to $145.0 million in the first half of 2023 from $139.3 million last year. Cost of sales meanwhile increased 4.2% to $117.3 million from $112.6 million.

In particular, Gama Aviation’s Business Aviation strategic business unit ‘delivered a solid performance’ largely due to strong growth in its US Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul business. Business Aviation revenue increased 6.1% to $115.4 million from $108.8 million, and gross profit rose 22% to $20.8 million.

Gama’s cash balance at June 30 was $11.6 million, down from $22.4 million at the same time one year prior. It further decreased to $9.1 million as of Friday.

‘Despite the strong growth in the US, the Group delivered modest revenue growth overall during the period against the backdrop of a challenging economic and business environment,’ Gama said.

Chief Executive Marwan Khalek however was more upbeat, commenting: ‘The [first half] results demonstrate the progress the group continues to make in consolidating and building upon the significant improvement in financial performance that has been delivered over the last couple of years.

‘This is the result of our diligent implementation of our organic growth strategy and the optimisation of our operational platform and cost base whilst continuing to deliver our clients’ mission.’

‘These results, delivered against a backdrop of a very challenging economic and business environment, again serve to illustrate the robustness and resilience of our business,’ he added.

Gama Aviation did not declare an interim dividend, unchanged from last year.

Going forward, Gama said it ‘remains understandably cautious’ about the outlook for the second half of 2023, but that its ongoing focus on cost control and optimised operational performance was helping to mitigate the impact of inflationary and other macro-economic pressures.

Khalek said: ‘Despite this uncertain economic backdrop, the pipeline of business opportunities continues to grow, and the group remains well positioned for the future.’

Gama Aviation shares were down 6.4% at 50.06 pence in London on Friday.

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