Defence giant's revenues top £25bn

A record order intake at BAE Systems has seen revenues grow by six per cent to reach £25.3bn.

The group's underlying EBIT increased nine per cent to £2.7bn, and the order book stands at £58bn.

During the year, BAE Systems, which employs more than 11,000 people at its Warton and Samlesbury sites, secured contracts worth more than £11bn across its air sector.

In December, Ministers from Italy, Japan and the UK signed an international treaty to develop an innovative next generation stealth fighter under the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) and confirmed that the joint GCAP government headquarters will be based in the UK.

FalconWorks, a new centre for advanced and agile research and technology development, was launched in Warton, and additional funding of £800m was secured from the UK Ministry of Defence to progress the concepting and assessment of the next generation combat aircraft, Tempest.

F-35 aft fuselage manufacturing continued at full-rate production through 2023, with 162 aft fuselages completed during the year. Ten Typhoons were delivered to Qatar Emiri Air Force, with 18 now in service. BAE also reached an agreement with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for a further five years of Salam Typhoon support.

The group also acquired Colorado-based Ball Aerospace, a leading provider of spacecraft, mission payloads, and optical and antenna systems, with more than 5,200 employees, 

And further announcements were made as part of the AUKUS trilateral agreement between Australia, the UK and the US, with funding of £3.95bn secured from the UK Ministry of Defence for the next phase of the UK’s next-generation nuclear-powered attack submarine programme.

The board has recommended a final dividend of 18.5p, taking the total dividend for 2023 to 30.0p - an increase of 11.1 per cent on last year.

Charles Woodburn, chief executive, said: "We’ve delivered a strong operational and financial performance in 2023 and I’m extremely proud of the way our people have delivered cutting-edge equipment and services to our customers, working together with partners across our supply chain.

"Our performance, combined with our global footprint and record order intake, means we’re well-positioned for sustained growth in the coming years. We’ll keep driving the business forward, investing in new technologies, facilities and our people.

"This will help us deliver on our order backlog and help ensure our government customers stay ahead in an uncertain world, whilst delivering increased value to our shareholders and the communities where we operate.”