Second profit downgrade of the year drives Cobham share price down by double digits
Aerospace and defence group Cobham's share price slumped over 12 per cent this morning after issuing its second profit downgrade of year.
Referencing a "challenging" third quarter and that its wireless and satellite communications division had underperformed, the company said it expects 2016 trading profits to be between £255m and £275m.
Previous consensus forecasts had anticipated trading profits of £295m, according to Reuters.
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The news comes as another blow to the company that has been tested during 2016.
In August, Cobham announced that it would replace its current chief executive, Bob Murphy, with tech company Laird's boss, David Lockwood. Simon Nicholls resigned as chief financial officer in January, with David Mellors announced as his replacement in June. Both will join Cobham no later than 1 January 2017.
In April, Cobham launched a £500m rights issue to combat problems the group was facing as a result of delayed shipments in its wireless communications business. This was as a result of lower demand from Australian oil and mining companies.
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The Dorset-based group said that it now anticipated its year-end net debt/Ebitda gearing ratio – the amount of net debt it has compared to annual earnings – to be around 2.6x, after taking into account the expected change trading profits.