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BAE Systems PLC on Wednesday reported a sharp rise in interim profit, announced a share buyback of up to £1.5 billion and raised its full-year sales and earnings guidance.
The defence, aerospace and security company reported a pretax profit of £1.20 billion in the six months ended June 30, up 54% from £779 million the year prior.
Revenue from continuing operations totalled £11.0 billion in the half, up 13% from £9.74 billion the previous year.
The company’s order intake in the half stood at £21.6 billion, up 20% from £18.0 billion at the same time a year prior. Its order backlog stood at a record £66.2 billion as at June 30, up 26% from £52.7 billion the previous year.
‘With a record order backlog and good operational performance, we’re well positioned to continue delivering sustained growth in the coming years, giving us confidence to continue investing in new technologies, facilities, highly-skilled jobs and in our local communities,’ commented Chief Executive Charles Woodburn.
Looking forward, BAE Systems said the strong set of half-year results gave it the confidence to increase its annual guidance for sales and underlying earnings before interest and tax.
The company now expects sales growth of between 5% and 7% in 2023, up from previous growth guidance of 3% to 5%, and underlying Ebit growth between 6% and 8%, up from previous guidance of 4% to 6%.
In 2022, the company reported sales of £23.26 billion and underlying Ebit of £2.48 billion.
BAE Systems declared an interim dividend of 11.5 pence. This represents an increase of 11% against the previous year.
The company also declared it has approved a further share buyback programme of up to £1.5 billion. This is expected to roll-on after the completion of BAE Systems’ current buyback programme and is expected to complete within three years.
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