Senior PLC (LON:SNR) has jettisoned its final dividend for the past year as coronavirus is causing "clear" economic disruption for the aerospace and defence engineer’s end markets and their supply chains.
With £159mln of headroom in its £305mln of committed borrowing facilities, the FTSE 250 group withdrew its proposal for a 5.2p dividend payment that had been scheduled for April until “the extent and duration of the disruption is better understood”.
To further conserve cash capital expenditure will be curtailed, working capital managed more tightly and further costs cuts.
Although an ongoing restructuring plan is delivering expected benefits and trading in the first two months of the year has been in line with management expectations, guidance for 2020 has been suspended due to the uncertainty of how the pandemic will affect business.