Melrose Industries PLC (LON: MRO) have seen their shares spike after the renewed optimism on planned union strikes.
The London based firm specializes in buying and improving underperforming businesses, and are currently going operational and structural changes.
Shares of the FTSE100 (INDEXFTSE: UKX) listed firm spiked 2.07% to 227p. 19/11/19 11:02BST.
The firm updated shareholders that its performance annually was in line with expectations, which would have appeased shareholders.
By division, the company said Aerospace, part of the acquisition of GKN, has achieved sales growth of over 5% in the four months to the end of October compared to the same period last year, outperforming the expected longer-term average growth rate. Melrose also noted “good margin improvement” in this division.
Melrose acquired GKN in early 2018 in an £8.4 billion deal, which allowed expansion into the aerospace industry.
In the automotive sector, Melrose reported strong profits but sales slumped 5% compared to the figure a year ago.
The firm alluded to strikes at General Motors (NYSE: GM), which hampered trading and led to slumps in both sales and expectations.
In September, almost 50,000 workers went on strike at General Motors, which was part of the biggest labour strike in more than ten years.
The strike ended in October following a forty day walkout, which would have given relief to Melrose.
Other Industrial is trading in line with expectations, Melrose said.
“Some macro conditions could be more helpful, but this has not stopped us continuing to transform the GKN businesses, delivering another trading period in line with expectations, and achieving better trends than seen in the first half of the year,” said Chair Justin Dowley.
“We are excited about what is possible and confident in our ability to unlock significant further shareholder value,” added Dowley.
Melrose are set to update shareholders on March 5th, where annual reports will be scrutinized.
