Equity investors have used defence stocks to go on the offensive in recent months as geopolitical tensions flare and governments around the world reappraise their national and international security spending.

This year, four of the 10 best performing FTSE 350 stocks come from the defence industry, while a similar story is playing out across US and European stock markets, a response to president Tump’s redrawing of the global world order.  

In early June, the UK government announced its Strategic Defence Review, aimed at moving the UK to a position of ‘war fighting readiness’, perhaps a worrying toll that conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East and elsewhere are extracting.

Even so, for a FTSE 100 stock to double in less than six months is a rarity, yet that is the case with Babcock (BAB), the British aerospace, defence and nuclear engineering services company that specialises in managing complex assets and infrastructure.

Babcock shares have surged 108% so far in 2025, and are up 60% in the past two months.

It’s a sharp rally even by previous bolstered defence spending standards, and it now puts the stock on a 12-month rolling PE (price to earnings) of more than 20.

This puts the company under significant pressure to show tangible signs of an improved sector outlook when it reports full-year results for the 12 months to 31 March 2025 on 25 June.

While this may not show up in the numbers themselves, which largely cover a period before the big shift in US foreign policy which encouraged European countries to prioritise their own defence, it may have to be reflected in the outlook if the share price momentum is to be maintained. 

UK UPDATES OVER THE NEXT 7 DAYS

FULL-YEAR RESULTS

23 June: One Health Group

24 June: Foresight Environmental Infrastructure, Telecom Plus

25 June: Babcock, Berkeley, Duke Capital, Liontrust, Marks Electrical, ProCook

26 June: Cake Box, Moonpig

INTERIMS

24 June: LBG Media

25 June: Velocity Composites

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

24 June: SThree

26 June: Time Finance

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