BAE Systems 1st Half Pretax Profit Falls; Backs Full-Year Guidance

   By Adria Calatayud 
 

British weapons maker BAE Systems PLC (BA.LN) said Wednesday that first-half pretax profit fell 22% on the back of lower revenue, and backed its full-year guidance.

Pretax profit for the six months to the end of June was 571 million pounds ($749.9 million) compared with GBP734 million the year before, BAE said. First-half net profit fell 17% to GBP471 million, the company said.

BAE's underlying earnings before interest, taxes and amortization--a more closely watched profit measure--was GBP874 million, down 9.6% on year.

First-half revenue decreased 8.5% to GBP8.16 billion from GBP8.92 billion a year earlier, BAE said. Analysts had forecast the company's first-half revenue at GBP8.64 billion.

The board declared a dividend of 9.0 pence a share, up from 8.8 pence a share a year earlier.

Order intake for the first half was GBP9.70 billion, taking the company's order backlog at GBP39.7 billion compared with GBP38.7 billion a year earlier, BAE said.

BAE confirmed its previous full-year guidance and said earnings in 2018 should be largely stable on year at around 42.1 pence a share reflecting accounting changes. There could be some small additional benefit from exchange translation, the company said.

Write to Adria Calatayud at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 01, 2018 02:42 ET (06:42 GMT)

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