BAE Systems 1st Half Pretax Profit Fell, Sees 2020 Sales Growing

By Anthony O. Goriainoff

BAE Systems PLC on Thursday posted a lower half-year pretax profit after booking higher costs, and said it expects 2020 sales to increase by a low single-digit percentage.

The company said this is due to increased volumes in F-35 and Combat Vehicles as well as growth in its electronic defense portfolio, offsetting a shortfall in its commercial businesses.

The London-listed defense company said that, for the six months ended June 30, pretax profit was 689 million pounds ($895.5 million) compared with GBP776 million for the first half of 2019.

Underlying earnings per share--the company's preferred metric, which strips out exceptional and other one-off items--fell to 18.7 pence a share from 21.9 pence a share in the year-prior period.

The company's order intake in the period was GBP9.34 billion while its backlog totaled GBP46.1 billion.

Revenue for the period was GBP9.18 billion compared with GBP8.67 billion the year before.

The board said the 2019 final dividend deferred in April will be paid in September, and declared an interim dividend of 9.4 pence a share.

"Assuming no significant COVID-19 resurgence, we expect a good second half to the year. Demand for our capabilities remains high and we recognize our role not only in supporting national security, but also in contributing to the economies of the countries in which we operate," the company said.

Write to Anthony O. Goriainoff at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 30, 2020 02:50 ET (06:50 GMT)

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