11th Nov 2021 13:56
(Alliance News) - Qinetiq Group PLC on Thursday said it is pleased with its progress in the first half of its financial year and boasted of a "good" performance despite hitting "short-term issues" with a couple of contracts.
In the six months to September 30, the Farnborough, Hampshire-based defence technology firm recorded pretax profit of GBP44.3 million, nearly halved from GBP83.7 million a year earlier.
Revenue slipped to GBP600.1 million from GBP603.2 million.
"Overall I am pleased with the continued strategic momentum through the first half of the year," Chief Executive Steve Wadey said.
Qinetiq's total funded order backlog ended the first half at GBP3.01 billion, down from GBP3.09 billion at the same point the year before.
Total orders in the period rose 21% to GBP677.8 million from GBP561.6 million.
Qinetiq declared an interim dividend of 2.3 pence, up slightly from 2.2p a year before.
Wadey continued: "We have delivered good underlying performance with orders up 25% and revenue up 3% organically and we have achieved a number of strategic wins. Whilst it is disappointing that this good performance has been impacted by two discrete short-term issues, we have a robust plan to resolve both in the second half."
In mid-October, Qinetiq warned its full-year margin will be at the lower end of guidance as it was experiencing supply issues on a "large complex programme", which it didn't name, that could result in the need for a one-off write down. It is working to cap the risk at below GBP15 million.
"We remain focused on delivering the full year whilst continuing to implement our strategy to build an integrated global defence and security company, through both organic growth and strategically-aligned acquisitions," Wadey added.
Shares in Qinetiq were down 1.4% in London on Thursday afternoon at 266.34 pence each.
By Paul McGowan; [email protected]
Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Qinetiq