UK’s Senior interim profit rises as Airbus contracts help mitigate Boeing concerns

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By Prerna Bedi

(Reuters) – British engineering firm Senior Plc posted a 10% rise in first-half profit on Monday as new and extended contracts with Airbus offset production issues with the Boeing 737 MAX.

A combination of business with Airbus, Spirit Aerosystems , Rolls-Royce and other aerospace firms helped Senior in the first half, CEO David Squires told Reuters in an interview.

Aerospace and defence firms have been benefiting from increased demand for airplanes as flying hours reach the pre-pandemic levels, offsetting production caps at Boeing.

“We’ll be able to continue to mitigate any issues with lower sales of Boeing with other sales,” Squires added while retaining Senior’s annual outlook.

“Senior (is) very well-positioned to benefit from a recovery in a number of its key end markets over the next few years,” analysts at Jefferies said in a statement.

Under its Flexonics division, the downstream oil & gas and nuclear businesses helped offset normalising in the upstream unit where customers reduced inventory levels.

The Flexonics unit makes fluid conveyance and thermal management components for vehicles and power and energy applications.

Senior, a supplier to both Boeing and Airbus, reported adjusted operating profit of 25.1 million pounds ($31.9 million), up from 22.9 million pounds last year.

The London-listed firm declared an interim dividend of 0.75 pence apiece, up 25% year-on-year.

Shares in the firm were down 3.3% at 152.4 pence by 0712 GMT, while the midcaps index was trading at 3.4% in red.

($1 = 0.7857 pounds)