Half year profits to dip 15pc for BAE Systems
BAE Systems, which has a land combat vehicles operation in Telford, says half year profit is expected to be 15 per cent lower than last year.
It will be announcing its results on July 30, but says sales are expected to be broadly stable year on year despite the coronavirus crisis.
BAE says that in many of its defence operations, the number working has progressed to near normal levels with a mix of working on site and remotely from home.
Demand remains high with order intake in line with its original expectations for the year.
The lower profit is partly down to significantly reduced volumes in higher margin commercial work.
As it returns towards full operational tempo BAE expects the business performance in the second half to be much stronger than in the first half, assuming there are no new significant Covid-19 related disruptions.
The liquidity of the group remains strong and despite some additional profit to cash impacts from Covid-19 disruptions, operating business cash flow in the half year remains broadly in line with expectations.
The group injected a one-off £1 billion payment into the UK pension scheme in April.
It is continuing to support governments and communities in the countries where it operates as they respond to the pandemic and has deployed its 3D printing capabilities and collaborated with its supply chain to donate more than 150,000 items of personal protective equipment to healthcare workers in the US and the UK and supported ventilator production as part of the VentilatorChallenge UK consortium.
The group is proceeding with plans to recruit a record number of apprentices – 800 in total – across a wide number of its sites.
