Meggitt reiterates annual outlook after tough 2014
(Adds CEO comment, analyst comment, share price)
LONDON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - British aircraft parts supplier Meggitt (Other OTC: MEGGF - news) maintained its outlook for this year and said it was comfortable with medium-term guidance after reporting an expected 13 percent fall in annual profit following a tough 2014.
For 2015, Meggitt forecast organic revenue growth in the low to mid-single digit percentage points, in line with what it said in November, as demand for parts from civil aircraft suppliers such as Boeing (NYSE: BA - news) and Airbus grows.
Beyond this year, it has a medium term target for organic revenue growth at around the 6 to 7 percent level.
"We're very comfortable with that," Chief Executive Stephen Young said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
The brighter outlook follows a difficult 2014 for the group, which was impacted by a bigger than expected declines in U.S. military spending, currency headwinds and issues in its energy business.
Underlying pretax profit of 328.7 million pounds ($508 million) in 2014 was lower than the 377.8 million pounds it made last year, and slightly short of a company-supplied consensus forecast of 332 million pounds.
Shares (Frankfurt: DI6.F - news) in Meggitt traded down 3 percent at 0848 GMT, which analysts said reflected the stock's recent strong run. It has posted an 18 percent rise over the last six months compared to a 1 percent gain in Britain's bluechip index.
"The shares have been very strong and there's no change to estimates so there's likely to be a little bit of profit taking," Liberum analyst Ben Bourne said. ($1 = 0.6472 pounds) (Reporting by Sarah Young, Editing by Paul Sandle)