BAE Systems's sales boosted by European Typhoon and currencies
Increased sales linked to the European Typhoon fighter aircraft project and favourable currency tailwinds lifted first half sales at aerospace giant BAE Systems, as the company reiterated its guidance for full-year earnings per share.
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Sales rose 11.3% to reach £8,472m boosted by £0.3bn of incremental sales on European Typhoon Tranche 3 aircraft with a positive currency impact tacking on another £0.2bn to top-line growth.
Even so, operating business cash flow fell into the red in the first six months of the year to the tune of -£349m from +£287m in the prior year period.
Underlying earnings per share of 17.1p, down from 17.7p for the comparable period of 2014 reflected a higher finance charge.
However, the company emphasised how its "large" order backlog of £37.3bn provided good visibility on future sales.
Regarding the outlook, the group pointed out that its performance has a seasonal second-half bias and that it "continues to expect underlying earnings per share for 2015 to be marginally higher than in 2014".
Nevertheless, meeting that target was conditional on various factors, namely: anticipated aircraft orders and a review of options for the Melbourne shipyard facility, and an average exchange rate of $1.55/£.
The interim dividend was increased by 2% to 8.4p per share.