Babcock International PLC (LSE:BAB) shares shrugged off a report that it the company is being urgently investigated by the Royal Navy over a repair made to Trident nuclear submarine HMS Vanguard using superglue.
A quick fix was reportedly made to bolts on cooling pipes in the boat's nuclear reactor chamber, the Sun reported, and discovered when a bolt fell off during checks in dry dock, and has since been fixed properly.
Staff at defence contractor Babcock glued the heads of bolts back on that kept insulation in place on the pipes, the report said, after they had fallen off through over-tightening.
The FTSE 250-listed group operates contracts to maintain the Astute and Vanguard submarine fleets.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has met the contractor's chief executive to get “assurances about future work”, with the company the second-largest contractor to the Ministry of Defence.
A source from the Navy told the newspaper: “It’s a disgrace. You can’t cut corners with nuclear. Standards are standards. Nuclear standards are never compromised.”
A Babcock spokesperson said: “Any quality related issue is a huge disappointment, but our own robust inspection processes discovered the issue, and we have taken immediate action to resolve it.
“Safety remains our most important priority and we can confirm there was no safety or operational impact from the work. We will continue to work closely with our customer, as we have throughout this most complex and critical of programmes.”
The shares dropped initially on Wednesday morning but soon were back above water at 306.14p.