Troubled British defence contractor Chemring Group's chairman Peter Hickson is stepping down, and the company plans to raise STG80.8 million ($A164.46 million) through a rights issue to pay off some of its debt.
Shares in the company fell nearly 12 per cent to 157 pence on the London Stock Exchange, making them the largest percentage losers on the FTSE small cap index.
Chemring has been struggling with delays in its Middle Eastern contracts as well as defence budget cuts in key markets as oil prices spiral downwards.
The impact of the oil price made the timing of Middle East order placement and contract activity difficult to predict, chief executive Michael Flowers said in a statement on Thursday.
The company said its full-year loss before tax from continuing operations widened to 9.1 million pounds from 5.2 million pounds a year earlier.
"The collapse in the oil price is clearly starting to take its toll on Mid-East defence spending," Panmure Gordon analyst Sanjay Jha wrote in a note.
Chemring also said it did not intend to pay a final dividend for 2015, or a dividend for the first-half of 2016.
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