Avon Rubber's (LON: AVON) share price has fallen despite the company reporting positive sales growth and stating they have made a “strong start” to 2021.
The specialist breathing equipment firm reported revenue of $122 million for the six months ended March 31, up 41% from the same period the previous year.
Orders rose 46.5% to $167.9 million, which was helped by significant growth in respiratory protection from both Military and First Responder customers. Military was up 31.3%, and First Responder orders rose 28.3%.
Pre-tax profits came in at $5.4 million compared to a loss of $1.8 million the previous year.
Avon said it will pay an interim dividend of 14.3c, up 30%.
Looking ahead, the company said it is confident in its full-year outlook, with trading continuing in line with expectations. They currently have a $156.6 million order book and expected order intake in the second half.
Paul McDonald, CEO of Avon, said: “Following the transformation of the Group in 2020 into a leading provider of life critical personal protection systems, we have made a strong start to 2021, continuing to deliver organic growth in orders and revenues, together with further progress against our strategic objectives.
“We have seen significant growth in respiratory protection from both Military and First Responder customers, while Team Wendy has performed well following the acquisition in November 2020, and we completed the integration of the ballistic protection business acquired in January 2020 from 3M.
“We are making good progress to resolve the delays in product approval for our body armor programmes and remain on track to commence shipments in the first half of our 2022 financial year.”
Additionally, the company said it will be changing its name to Avon Protection during the second half of the year.
Avon Rubber's share price is currently down 9.79% at 2,953p.
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