The collapse in demand for heavy trucks in the United States and the moribund investment outlook in the oil and gas industry has prompted another profit alert from Senior. Shares in the British engineering group plunged close to 3 and half-year lows, down nearly 29p at 196p, after it warned that profits and after it warned that profits and margins were falling in its Flexonics division.
The division makes the tubes, joints, turbo injectors, connectors and manifold systems of large diesel engines, mainly for the American heavy trucks market. That has been in turmoil in recent months, with tens of thousands of the largest rigs left unsold on dealers’ lots across North America. The downturn has been blamed on the sharp decline on freight traversing the continent on a continual basis.
Flexonics also manufacture bellows and seals used in lifting hydro-carbons in the oil and gas sector.