Meggitt warns aerospace revenue to be hit by coronavirus travel impact

Engineering giant Meggitt said it expects revenue for the past quarter to fall sharply after the mass grounding of planes during the coronavirus pandemic hit its civil aerospace business.

The UK firm, which supplies components for the aerospace and defence market, said it expects civil aerospace revenues to have halved over the past three months due to travel restrictions.

It projected that group organic revenues will have tumbled by 30% for the period, amid a solid performance by its defence arm.

The defence business is expected to deliver revenue growth in the mid-single digits, while Meggitt said it continues to see “good order flow” and believes demand in the division will remain robust through 2020.

The group said it made it “good progress” in executing plans to cut costs and cash expenditure, amid the “significant slowdown” in the aerospace sector.

During the second quarter, the majority of its manufacturing facilities were open with around two-thirds of global employees working at sites, with the rest either working from home or furloughed.

Meggitt said energy revenues are also expected to be “somewhat softer” for the past quarter due to declines in the power generation and oil sectors.

The London-listed group added that it is experiencing initial signs of recovery in commercial aerospace, but that uncertainty and risk related to the pandemic remains for the second half of the year.

In April, Meggitt announced that it will cut around 1,800 jobs from its global workforce as part of its plans to slash costs.

It said it now expects to secure “higher savings than originally planned” from its efforts to reduce costs.

The company added that it is on track to reduce cash outflows by around £400 million to £450 million for the year.

Shares in Meggitt moved 8% higher to 329.6p in early trading.