BODY armour producers Shieldtech yesterday suspended its shares on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) as its directors continue to complete refinancing.

The Warrington-based firm, which is a specialist provider of products and services to the homeland security market, announced it was unable to produce its annual accounts for the year to June 30, 2008, by yesterday’s six-month deadline – in breach of AIM’s rules.

It expects its accounts will only be signed off following refinancing, which is ongoing but remains uncompleted.

Shieldtech yesterday issued a market statement which confirmed that it still had the support of its bank, HSBC.

It said: “The company is in discussion with its bankers, HSBC, and other parties concerning the injection of additional finance into the business. HSBC has agreed to extend the company's current working capital facility to enable these discussions to be completed.”

Shieldtech bought Aegis Engineering in July, 2007, for £19.5m, which produces specialist operational equipment, in particular body armour systems, and is a major supplier to police forces in the UK.

Shieldtech’s directors had previously warned of lower sales in the second half of 2007 because of a delay by the Home Office in revising its ballistic measurement standards. This led to some UK police forces delaying their orders for protection equipment.

However, the firm remained positive about its trading position and stated it expects to make a profit in the current financial year.

It said: “The company confirms that, in the five months ended November 30, 2008, the company has traded well and the directors remain confident that sales in the current financial year, ending June 30, 2009, will be substantially greater than those in the previous year and that the company will return to profitability.”

Yesterday, Shieldtech also announced its director, and Aegis’s former chief executive, Glenn Hopkinson, was leaving the company. He had stayed on during the transitional period after the acquisition.