BAE Systems 2022 Pretax Profit Fell on Higher Costs, Missing Consensus

By Anthony O. Goriainoff

BAE Systems PLC said Thursday that pretax profit fell for 2022 and missed consensus after booking higher costs.

The U.K. defense-and-aerospace group said pretax profit was 1.99 billion pounds ($2.40 billion) compared with a profit of GBP2.11 billion for 2021. Pretax profit consensus was GBP2.09 billion, taken from FactSet and based on six analysts' forecasts.

Sales rose to GBP23.26 billion from GBP21.31 billion a year earlier. Fifteen analysts polled by FactSet had a sales consensus of GBP22.97 billion for the year.

The company said that it expects sales in 2023 to rise by 3% to 5%.

Net profit was GBP1.59 billion compared with GBP1.76 billion the year before, and consensus of GBP1.59 billion, also taken from FactSet and based on 12 analysts' forecasts.

Revenue rose to GBP21.26 billion from GBP19.5 billion the year before.

Underlying earnings per share--a metric which strips out exceptional and other one-off items--on a constant currency basis rose 9.5% to 55.5 pence.

The company said that it looked forward "to continued top-line growth with increased return on sales and good free cash delivery against...rolling targets."

BAE said it expects 2023 underlying EPS to increase by 5% to 7%.

The board recommended a final dividend of 16.6 pence a share, taking the total for the year to 27.0 pence.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 23, 2023 02:44 ET (07:44 GMT)

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