06 Jun 12. Chemring Group PLC announced the sale of its marine interests (collectively “Chemring Marine”) to Drew Marine (“Drew Marine”) for £32m, payable in cash. Completion, which is conditional upon regulatory approvals and subject to a working capital adjustment, is expected by the end of July. The proceeds after costs will be used by the Group to reduce net debt, initiate a share buy-back, and to fund existing pension liabilities of around £2m. Chemring Marine is the world’s leading supplier of marine pyrotechnic distress signals to the commercial and leisure marine markets, but is no longer considered to be core to Chemring and its wider international defence strategy. In the year ended 31 October 2011, the Company generated revenues of £21m, an operating profit of £6m, and had gross assets of £17m. Drew Marine is a recognised global leader in the supply of marine water treatment, maintenance, welding and refrigeration, fuel treatment and fire, safety and rescue products and services to ship owners, ship managers and shipyards. Drew Marine was acquired in 2009 by J.F. Lehman & Company, a leading middle-market private equity firm focused on the maritime, aerospace and defence sectors.
06 Jun 12. Hampson Industries, the aerospace components and tooling supplier, has admitted that shareholders could be wiped out amid floundering attempts to sell the debt-burdened business. Hampson hit a peak market capitalisation of £295m in September 2008 ahead of the
collapse of Lehman Brothers, after taking on debt finance for the purchase of US businesses Odyssey and Global Tooling Systems for a combined total of $253m earlier that year. (Source: FT.com)
08 Jun 12. Activist investor Carl Icahn raised his stake in Navistar International Corp. to about 12% from roughly 10% in November a day after the struggling truck maker realigned its management team and slashed its full-year earnings outlook. Mr. Icahn paid $24.44 a share to boost his stake by 883,200 shares to 8.1m, according to a regulatory filing on Friday. Shares in the Lisle, Ill., heavy truck maker were up 8%, or $2.01, at $26.12 in morning trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The stock had fallen 36% so far this year, through Thursday’s close. Navistar on Thursday named Troy Clarke president of its truck, engine and parts operations, positioning the former General Motors Co. executive as a possible successor to Chairman and Chief Executive Daniel Ustian, whose engine strategy was severely undermined by an unexpected second-quarter loss. For the quarter ended April 30, Navistar reported a loss of $172m, or $2.50 a share, compared with a profit of $74m, or 93 cents, a year earlier. Excluding items such as existing warranty charges, asset-impairment and engineering-integration costs, the per-share loss was $1.99 in the most-recent quarter. Net revenue fell 1.7% to $3.3bn. Analysts had forecast earnings of 67 cents a share on revenue of $3.63bn.
It cut its earnings outlook for the second straight quarter and now expects earnings this year to range from break-even to $2 a share, compared with its reduced March forecast of between $4.25 a share and $5.25 a share. Analysts had expected the company to earn $3.73 a share. Mr. Icahn has been pushing to have the truck and engine maker merge with fellow heavy-duty vehicle maker Oshkosh Corp., OSK which has been undergoing its own struggles. A Navistar representative said the company doesn’t comment on specific shareholders. Meanwhile, Oshkosh shareholders voted early this year against Mr. Icahn’s effort to gain board representation. (Source: WSJ)
30 May 12. Ultra enters satcoms sector with Giga buy. The UK’s Ultra Electronic Holdings has announced it will acquire satellite systems manufacturer Giga Communications Ltd for a total of GBP37m (USD58m). Ultra will pay an initial GBP12.4m followed by additional amounts up to GBP24.6m, dependent on earnings growth over the next two years.
(Source: Jane’s, JDW)
05 Jun 12. Vector A