Shares in Wiltshire manufacturer Avon Rubber rose sharply this morning after it said trading had continued to be strong, driven by increased sales of its core protection products.
The Melksham-based group also said the currency fluctuations that had hit it earlier this year had eased. 
As a result, a pre-close update released to the London Stock Exchange said its board now expects its full-year results will be “comfortably ahead” of current market expectations.
Shares climbed by nearly 6% – or 36.5p – in early trading as investors welcomed the positive outlook.
In its core protection and defence division, which makes respirators and masks for the armed services, homeland security and first-responder customers, it said it had achieved a richer sales mix than previously expected in the second half of the financial year.
This was predominantly due to a Middle Eastern order that Avon was able to ship earlier than anticipated.
“Operational flexibility to meet this customer’s requirement at short notice was achieved by switching production from DoD (US Department of Defense) orders and means that we will carry forward a stronger DoD order book into the 2015 financial year, with order coverage for the first half of 2015,” said the statement.
Trading in its dairy business, which makes rubber parts for milking machines, was ahead of the previous year, it said, with its innovative Cluster Exchange service “continuing to make excellent progress” in North America and Europe.
The group also enjoyed a strong conversion of profits into cash, including accelerated payments from a major customer ahead of its financial year-end. As a result, net cash on September 30 was expected to be around £2.9m compared with net debt of £10.9m on the same day last year.
Avon will announce its results for the financial year to September 30 on November 19.
