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News

Good Group performance and increased returns

14/11/2024

Interim Results for six months to 30 September 2024 (‘H1 FY25’)

Steve Wadey, Group Chief Executive Officer said: We have delivered a good operational and financial performance across the Group, set against a backdrop of political change and an evolving threat environment. Our talented people do critical work, highly relevant to our customers’ mission and this is driving increasing demand for our capabilities.

As a result of our continued focus on disciplined capital allocation, we have extended our £100m share buyback programme by £50m to deliver increased shareholder returns. Guidance for FY25 is unchanged and we remain on track to deliver our FY27 outlook of c.£2.4 billion organic revenue at c.12% margin. We are well positioned for long-term sustainable growth with compelling value creation for shareholders.

Financial highlights

  Underlying1 results Statutory results
  H1 FY25 H1 FY24 H1 FY25 H1 FY24
Revenue £946.8m £883.1m £946.8m £883.1m
Operating profit 2 £106.6m £100.1m £94.3m £91.3m
Profit after tax £80.9m £77.3m £63.0m £63.7m
Earnings per share 14.2p 13.4p 11.1p 11.0p
Interim dividend per share 2.8p 2.6p 2.8p 2.6p
Orders £1,034.8m £952.7m    
Order backlog £2,936.1m £3,132.0m    
Net cash flow from operations £130.9m £71.7m £118.1m £62.2m
Net debt £190.9m £273.8m    

Good overall Group financial performance

  • Revenue up 7% through consistent operational performance, up 8% on an organic3 basis
  • Underlying operating profit up 7% with stable margin at 11.3%, up 7% on an organic basis
  • Good cash conversion at 84%, with leverage at 0.6x4
  • Orders up 9% at £1.03bn, with a book-to-bill of 1.3x5 and order backlog of £2.9bn
  • Continued earnings growth with underlying EPS up 6% to 14.2p
  • Progressive dividend growth of 7%, with interim dividend one third of prior year total at 2.8p
  • Share buyback programme extended by £50m

High relevance to our customers’ mission driving increasing demand

  • Strong programme execution across EMEA Services
  • Global Solutions, including Avantus, performing in line with our expectations
  • Significant progress on a number of strategic programmes with future growth potential
  • Rapidly changing character of warfare increasing demand for our capabilities
  • Healthy backlog and pipeline gives significant long-term visibility

FY25 guidance unchanged and on-track to deliver FY27 outlook

  • FY25 performance set to deliver high single digit organic revenue growth at stable margin
  • On-track for organic revenue growth to c.£2.4bn at c.12% margin by FY27

You can download the full statement from our Results, Reports & Presentations page.

Interim results presentation:

We will be hosting an in-person results presentation at 09:30 GMT at the London Stock Exchange, 10 Paternoster Square, London, EC4M 7LS. Register to join in-person or via the live webcast.

For further information please contact:

Stephen Lamacraft, Group Director Investor Relations: +44 (0) 7471 885817
Lindsay Walls, Group Director Communications (Media enquiries): +44 (0) 7793 427582

1 Definitions of the Group’s ‘Alternative Performance Measures’ can be found in the glossary.
2 Underlying operating profit refers to operating profit from segments. See note 2 for details to the interim financial statements.
3 Organic denotes results on an organic and constant currency basis.
4 Excluding benefit of £112m sale and leaseback of Cody Technology Park.
5 B2B ratio is orders won divided by revenue recognised, excluding the LTPA contract revenue of £131m (H1 FY24: £129m).