Total revenues for the division were £31.4m (2008: £10.9m) which generated an operating profit of £1.6m (2008: £3.1m loss).

The Cadillac operation performed well in the period, securing orders for 161,000 mask systems under the five year DoD contract and ten year requirements option. Deliveries to the customer were made to schedule and production performance continues to improve.

The UK Protection & Defence business secured a £4.5m order for S10 masks from the UK MoD, with the potential for this to reach £10m over the three years of the contract. The first delivery against the order was made in the final month of the period.

Avon ISI continued to suffer from difficult market conditions and incurred an operating loss in the first half of 2009. A cost reduction exercise implemented at the end of the first quarter did lead to an improvement in performance in the second quarter.

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