Defence manufacturing group Avon Protection is looking ahead to a new “chapter of growth” it said as it reported higher annual revenues and a big cut in operating losses.
Bosses at the Melksham-based group, which specialises in protective gear, masks and breathing equipment for the military and first-responder markets, continued to restructure the business in the year to 1 October while also securing orders worth $280.1m.
As a result, pre-tax losses were slashed from the previous year’s $35.6m to $8.5m on revenues up 9.1% to $271.9m.
Among the orders was the first, worth $42.1m, from the US Army for its next-generation Integrated Head Protection System (NG IHPS) helmet.
There was also strong underlying demand for its life-critical personal protection among NATO countries.
Revenue growth in its UK and international market was up 84.2%, with commercial sales in the Americas up 4.6%. These helped offset a 21.2% fall in sales to the US Department of Defense.
The group, which employs more than 1,000 people in seven locations, also said it had made “significant progress” towards reducing overheads by $21m a year as it continued to bounce back from a tough year or so during which its shares lost around 70% of their value as it struggled to overcome damaging delays in military orders from the US.
It ended the year with an order book worth 151.3m – 7.8% higher than its value at the start of its financial year.
In September it announced a $15.1m order with the Pentagon for around 380,000 pairs of its M61 respirator filters. Deliveries are expected to start early next year.
It also said it was combating its own supply chain disruption by forward ordering long lead-time components to allowing greater agility and ability to react to demand signals.
Avon Protection executive chair Bruce Thompson said the results reflected a solid order intake and a much-improved operational performance in the second half.
“We have made good progress in 2022 preparing for a new chapter of growth and future value generation, including restructuring some areas of the business and resolving legacy execution issues,” he added.
“There is a significant long-term growth opportunity for Avon. The demand for our world-leading respiratory and head protection systems is as strong as ever, and we remain focused on protecting those who protect us with our innovative solutions.”
The group changed its name last year from Avon Rubber.
