Babcock says annual underlying operating profit beats expectations

Babcock International Group PLC on Wednesday said it continues to see momentum across its business as it reported higher annual sales and profit.

Shares in the London-based aerospace, defence and nuclear engineering services company rose 3.6% to 775.50 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.

Revenue rose 11% at constant currency to £4.83 billion in the financial year to March 31, with a continuation of the strong growth noted at the third quarter update in February, particularly in the Nuclear and Marine divisions.

However, this was slightly below the £4.9 billion Babcock had forecast in February.

In a trading update, Babcock said underlying operating profit grew 17% to £363 million with an underlying operating margin of 7.5%.

In the financial year to March 2024, Babcock reported revenue of £4.39 billion, underlying operating profit of £237.8 million and an underlying operating margin of 5.4%.

Chief Executive David Lockwood said: ‘In an uncertain world, we continue to see momentum across the business. This has driven strong performance in all four of our divisions in the fourth quarter, resulting in full year underlying operating profit ahead of expectations.’

Babcock reported underlying operating cash conversion of 80% in the financial year, boosted by working capital timing. Underlying free cash flow in the year totalled £153 million, despite an additional accelerated pension deficit repair contribution of £40 million.

Net debt including leases reduced to £373 million at March 31 from £435 million a year prior, or to £101 million excluding leases from £211 million.

The contracted order backlog was £10.1 billion as at March 31, up from £9.5 billion at the half-year stage, ‘providing a strong platform for sustained growth.’

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