Cobham confident for 2010 as results cheer
AEROSPACE electronics group Cobham beat expectations with a 21 per cent rise in full-year profit, helped by robust military and government markets, and said it expects to make further progress in 2010.
Cobham, whose equipment helps military vehicles such as the F-35 fighter plane communicate with one another, yesterday reported an underlying pre-tax profit of £295m on revenues 28 per cent higher at £1.88bn for 2009.
Market expectations for 2009 pretax profit had ranged from between £214m to £307m.
Cobham, which last month won a contract to make components for new helicopters to used by the US army, increased the full-year dividend by 10 per cent to 5.45p a share.
The company, which in its infancy pioneered in-flight aircraft refuelling, said its order book stood at £2.4bn at the year end, not including a recently agreed $1.2bn US contract.
Cobham’s shares fell 1.8 per cent to 244.10p.