Having successfully rebuffed bid interest from private equity firm Lone Star, shares in aerospace and defence firm Senior (SNR) ticked up 1.2% to 164p as it unveiled a robust trading update.

The shares have not fallen dramatically since Lone Star opted to walk away in late June, with the company looking to keep investors onside by promising a strategy update alongside first half results on 2 August and a capital markets day in October to highlight the potential in its fluid conveyance and thermal management operations.

Today’s statement confirms trading was ahead of expectations for the six months to 30 June but still 13% lower year-on-year with the first quarter of 2020 largely unaffected by the pandemic. The full year outcome is also expected to be slightly ahead of expectations.

BIG HIT TO CIVIL AEROSPACE

Travel restrictions have badly impacted the aviation sector, which in turn has hit the production lines of the big tier one manufacturers like Airbus and Boeing as well as firms like Senior which provide component parts for planes.

However, Senior points to ‘clear signs of recovery’ in its markets with net cash of £61 million coming into the business through the period and the net debt position sitting at £71 million or a fairly comfortable 1.3 times earnings based on consensus 2021 forecasts from Refinitiv.

It expects production volumes for Boeing and Airbus to start to recover towards the end of 2021 and into 2022 with defence markets expected to remain stable.

In 2019, the last set of results unaffected by Covid, 56% of revenue came from civil aerospace, 13% from military and defence aerospace, 11% from land vehicles like passenger cars and heavy trucks as well as 14% from power and energy markets (where it designs and manufactures industrial process control components).

READ MORE ABOUT SENIOR HERE

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Issue Date: 09 Jul 2021