The global crisis in the automotive sector dragged down underlying sales at GKN by a third during its first quarter, investors in the car parts and aerospace company were told at its annual meeting on Thursday.

But shares in the company closed flat at 139¼p after giving up early gains as investors took comfort from an uptick in March trading. GKN moved back into the black after a lossmaking start to the year as solid aerospace sales helped mitigate “extremely challenging” markets for private and commercial vehicles.