The defence giant said its order numbers grew on the back of high demand globally as it posted a 13% rise in sales for the six months to June 30
BAE Systems has ramped up its annual forecast as global geopolitical tensions prompt countries to spend more on defence.
The firm’s shares climbed on Thursday morning following the announcement. The FTSE 100 defence giant reported a surge in orders due to “high” international demand. Investors were informed by BAE that its sales soared by 13% to £13.4billion in the six months leading up to June 30, compared to the previous year.
The company attributed the sales spike to robust defence expenditure in key markets as clients aimed to counter “the rising threat environment”. BAE also noted that its recent £4.4billion purchase of US defence company Ball Aerospace contributed to the sales increase.
Furthermore, BAE’s order book had swelled by £1.6 billion by the end of June, reaching a hefty £59.6billion. Consequently, the firm now anticipates a sales growth of about 14% for 2024, an upgrade from its earlier estimate of 12%, citing “continued strong operational performance across all sectors”.
In addition, BAE disclosed an operating profit of £1.3billion for the first half of the year, marking a 5% increase from the same period last year. The group has also nudged its earnings growth projection up by one percentage point, now expecting it to fall between 12% and 14% for the full year.
Charles Woodburn, chief executive of BAE Systems, praised his workforce. He said: “Thanks to the outstanding efforts of our employees around the world, we delivered a strong operational and financial performance in the first half of the year, giving us confidence to increase our year-end guidance across all our key metrics.”
“Our order intake shows that demand for our products and services remains high and we are well positioned for sustained growth in the coming years. We will keep investing in new technologies, facilities and our people so that we can deliver on our record order backlog and help our government customers stay ahead in an uncertain world.”
Analysts at Jefferies has said the half-year performance was “slightly ahead of expectations”.
