Hampson Falls as Boeing Tooling Supplier Puts Itself Up for Sale

Hampson Industries Plc (HAMP) slumped the most in 18 months in London trading after the U.K. maker of tooling systems for airplane manufacturing put itself up for sale as it tries to refinance debt.

The U.K. manufacturer, whose tooling systems are used for Boeing’s 787 and Airbus’s A350, dropped as much as 33 percent, to 5.2 pence, the biggest intraday decline since Aug. 12, 2010. The stock traded at 5.75 as of 8:39 a.m., giving the company a market value of 16.8 million pounds ($26.4 million).

Hampson named DC Advisory Partners and Sagent Advisors Inc. to handle the sale as it is reviewing “all financing and strategic options,” the Brierley Hill, England-based company said today in a statement. The company had net debt of 54.9 million pounds as of Feb. 5.

Chief Executive Officer Norman Jordan has been conducting a review of the company and has been looking into asset disposals. Hampson received indicative offers for units including BHW and the Indian operations of its aerostructures and composites business, the company added.

Some deliveries for the company’s largest tooling order might slip to fiscal 2013 following issues identified during the testing and customer approval process, the company added in the statement. Discussions with the customer are ongoing.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Benedikt Kammel at bkammel@bloomberg.net