Chemring revenues tumble amid tough defence market

Defence contractor Chemring today said that revenues during the final three months of its financial year had fallen sharply because of government spending constraints and delayed orders.

The group saw its shares hit last month in the wake of a profit warning sparked by the US government shutdown, but said those issues “have largely been resolved”, and it was addressing production problems at its US Kilgore, which makes decoys and flares.

In a trading update, Chemring said revenues in the three months to the end of October were 24 per cent lower than a year ago at £185 million, while full-year sales are down 15.5 per cent at £625m.

Chief executive Mark Papworth also said that the firm plans to sell a number of non-core divisions to improve its finances and would be looking to expand into new markets to offset the “challenging” defence environment.