ARMOURED car manufacturer Alvis yesterday said it had a strong future on the back of encouraging performances last year.
The Telford firm, which bought Newcastle's Vickers Defence Systems for £16m in August, saw turnover rise 51 per cent, from £149.4m in 2001, to £225.7m in 2002.
Profit before exceptional items and tax jumped 40 per cent, from £11.8m to £16.5m, but actual pre-tax profit was almost halved to £14.5m.
Earnings per share before exceptional items went up to 10.4p, a rise of 65 per cent.
Nick Prest, the chairman and chief executive of Alvis, said: "The strong order book and the additional opportunities brought by the Vickers acquisition mean that the outlook for further progress at Alvis is favourable."
Staff at the Scotswood Road site, in Newcastle, have been working on a £240m Engineer Tank System development.
Alvis Vickers has used the Challenger 2 tank chassis to develop an armoured engineering vehicle, and an armoured bridge-laying vehicle.
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