SR Technics, owner of the former FLS Aerospace, has indicated a willingness to vacate part of its plant at Dublin Airport to make way for a new terminal there, but declined to specify what compensation it would seek to make such a move.

The company, which said yesterday that it was planning a flotation in the medium-term, said it could move the operations at its Hanger One site elsewhere in its existing plant or to another location in Dublin if the the hanger was required.

SR Technics chairman Frank Turner said the company recently invested €3.5 million in that part of the plant but said its lease with the Dublin Airport Authority provided for such a move if it was required.

He would not discuss the price of such a move. "It's clearly going to cost us money, but we're not standing in the way. There's a deal there to be done."

Owned by investment groups 3i and Star Capital, SR Technics is the former technical support division of the now-defunct Swissair.

The most likely date for a flotation is the final quarter next year if market conditions are positive and the company performance is satisfactory.

SR Technics did not provide financial figures for the Dublin operation, which started as Team Aer Lingus and which has struggled to make a profit.

However, Mr Turner indicated that progress had been made since SR Technics bought FLS Aerospace for €47 million last year.

"For the first time, the ex-FLS Aerospace company generated a profit. It's not enough of a profit, but it's a profit," he said.

While a 24 per cent increase in revenues to 1.17 billion Swiss francs (€756 million) was mostly attributable to FLS, FLS had a "less significant" impact on the 21 per cent rise in earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation to 126 million francs.