British aerospace supplier Melrose said on Thursday it expected 2023 profit to be 7% higher than its previous expectations, partly driven by stronger aftermarket demand and improved pricing.

The owner of GKN Aerospace, which counts Airbus and Boeing as its top customers, said trading and margin performance during the four month ended Oct. 31 was better than its previous expectations.

Melrose, which spun off its auto and other businesses in April to become a pure-play aerospace supplier, now expects an adjusted core profit of 680 million pounds to 700 million pounds ($842.5-$867.2 million) for the year ending Dec. 31.

It also said that adjusted operating profit next year would be about 4% better than market expectations, given that demand would continue to be constrained by supply.

In September, Melrose flagged a potential cash hit of about 200 million pounds through 2026 after Pratt & Whitney parent RTX warned of grounding of some engine variants for quality checks.

GKN Aerospace has a 4% programme share on the GTF PW1100G variant impacted by this issue. ($1 = 0.8072 pounds)

(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong and Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)