Renold has issued a Q3 trading update guiding to a c.10% decline in sales vs FY15 and a c.£2m decline in adjusted operating profit. This reflects weak and volatile trading for both divisions and in most of its geographical territories, which is worse than we had expected. The profit decline has been lessened by continued delivery of self-help measures, hence Chain profit is expected to be almost flat despite the sales fall, although Torque Transmission profit is expected to fall. The new guidance implies a c.23% reduction in our adjusted operating profit forecasts to c.£13.5m. The balance sheet remains robust with year end net debt/EBITDA guidance of c.1.25x.
