Cobham profit up on robust military markets

By Marc Roca

LONDON (Reuters) - Aerospace and defence company Cobham (COB.L) reported a 24 percent rise in first-half profit on Thursday, beating forecasts, and said it expects to be slightly ahead of its growth targets in 2008.

The company said it benefited from robust US military and national security markets, with particularly strong revenue from vehicle intercoms and the UK's Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FTSA) programme.

"We've got strong positions in buoyant marketplaces, both geographically and by sector," Chief Executive Allan Cook told reporters in a conference call. "Over 50 percent of our revenue is generated in the U.S. but we're also seeing opportunities in higher growth markets such as India and the friendly Middle East states."

The firm posted 107 million pounds in underlying pretax profit for the six months to end-June, up from 86 million pounds last year and ahead of the median forecast of 100.5 million given in a Reuters Estimates poll of three analysts.

"Cobham reported another set of excellent results with revenues up 28 percent year-on-year, earnings above forecast and record cash flow conversion," Dresdner Kleinwort analysts said, adding that the broker is upgrading EPS estimates by 3 percent for all years.

The company, whose products include special-purpose pods carried underneath military aircraft, radar equipment and interior lighting for aircraft, also reported strong growth in its order book to 2.2 billion pounds from 1.7 billion last year.

It said that its markets are largely resilient to the impact of a weakening economic outlook.

Shares in Cobham, which have risen over 5 percent since the start of the year, were up 0.92 percent at 219.5 pence by 9:40 a.m..