A Family-Run Engineer of 142 Years Soars on Dash for Defense

A 142-year-old UK engineering firm run by the sixth generation of its founding family was thrust further into the stock market spotlight Monday, as investors pounce on its ties to rising military spending.

Goodwin Plc, which has no analysts covering the stock beyond its corporate broker, rose as much as 42% in London to a record high after the company said it expects pretax trading profit to double for the fiscal year ending in April, and announced a big special dividend. That took gains since late July to about 188%.