Aerospace engineer Hampson Industries proposes to raise £59.5 million at 50p to cut debt and ‘exploit future opportunities’.

The fully-listed company, which over the past few years has been expanding and winning contracts in the USA, is raising half the money through a placing and half through an open offer, each underwritten by investment group Investec and Lloyds Bank, on the basis of three new shares for every eight existing shares held, at a 22.8 per cent discount to yesterday’s closing price. After expected expenses of £3.9 million, Hampson, which says it sees early signs of demand recovering in its key aerospace tooling business, plans to use the proceeds to reduce net borrowings and cut £15 million permanently from its borrowing facilities.

In an accompanying trading statement, the company, whose interim pre-tax profits fell 31 per cent to £11 million on turnover down 12 per cent to £97 million, says results from 1 October to now are below those achieved a year earlier. However, Hampson, steered by chief executive Kim Ward, says US tooling orders have risen 19 per cent since last March and 25 per cent since August, with $315 million (£134 million) of business in the ‘quotation pipeline’.