LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Engineering group GKN Plc (GKN.L) on Wednesday reported a 17 percent increase in first-quarter pre-tax profit, as sales increased across all divisions.
In an Interim Management Statement covering the period since January 1, GKN said first-quarter pre-tax profit increased to 125 million pounds from 107 million pounds.
The figures are on a management basis, which aggregates the sales and trading profit of subsidiaries with the Group's share of the sales and trading profit of joint ventures.
Trading profit climbed 19 percent to 142 million pounds, while trading margin edged up 0.2 points to 8.2 percent with margin improvement across all four divisions.
Sales in the quarter increased 17 percent to 1.74 billion pounds. The company noted that last year's acquisitions of Getrag Driveline Products and Stromag made a strong contribution. Sales grew 8 percent on an underlying basis.
GKN Driveline generated 26 percent more sales in the quarter. According to the company, the business significantly outperformed global light vehicle production and achieved growth in every major market except Brazil.
GKN Powder Metallurgy sales climbed 9 percent, benefiting from good growth in North American automotive production and new programme launches across the division.
Sales grew 5 percent in GKN Aerospace and were up 20 percent in GKN Land Systems.
Nigel Stein, CEO of GKN, said, 'Despite some macro-economic uncertainty, we expect 2012 to be a year of good progress for GKN based on our market leadership positions, advanced technology and extensive global footprint.'
The stock is currently falling 2.1 percent at 207 pence.
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