City round-up: BAE Systems lifts profit target; Pets at Home steady; positive Volex; new chair at Ultimate Products
Defence giant BAE Systems has seen revenues for the first half of 2024 soar 13% to £13.4billion.
In a half year trading update to the stock market this morning, Charles Woodburn, Chief Executive, said the “strong operational and financial performance” has led to the board lifting its year-end guidance across all key metrics.
“Working closely with our customers, we have maintained momentum on key strategic activities, including AUKUS and the Global Combat Air Programme. We also continued evolving our technology portfolio through strategic acquisitions and the ongoing integration of our new Space & Mission Systems business.
“Our order intake shows that demand for our products and services remains high and we are well positioned for sustained growth in the coming years. We will keep investing in new technologies, facilities and our people so that we can deliver on our record order backlog and help our government customers stay ahead in an uncertain world,” he said.
Large orders include Australia’s new fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, three Hunter Class frigates, also in Australia, the acquisition of the US-based Ball Aerospace business from Ball Corporation and two further acquisitions in the uncrewed air systems (UAS) technology market.
The sixth Astute class submarine, Agamemnon, was officially named at the UK submarines site in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.
The company delivered two further Typhoon aircraft to Qatar.
::
Cheshire-based pet retailer Pets at Home has reported half year revenue up 1.5% to £576.6m.
Revenue from its vet business grew by 17.1% but retail was slightly down by 0.8%.
Lyssa McGowan, Chief Executive Officer, described the performance as “a resilient Q1”
“The benefits of our investments in logistics, stores and digital are coming through, and our unique joint venture vets continued to deliver differentiated performance, growing visits and attracting new customers, driven by our passionate, independent practice owners.”
The update also pointed to a growth in subscriptions revenues, now generating 11% of consumer revenue. Pet care plans benefited from strong customer acquisition in Vets during the quarter.
Analysts expect the business to make profits before tax of £144m, which the company said it was “comfortable” with.
::
Warrington-based cables group, Volex, said positive trading momentum has continued in the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, in a trading update ahead of the annual general meeting being held this afternoon.
In the three months to June 30, 2024, the AIM-listed business said the trading performance has remained in line with management’s expectations.
As anticipated, the group has delivered an encouraging start to the new financial year with year-on-year constant currency organic revenue growth of nine per cent, driven by particularly strong performances in the EV and Data Centre sectors.
Murat Ticaret is trading well year to date in its first full year of ownership, supplementing strong year-on-year organic growth in the Off-Highway market.
The group has continued to make targeted capital and operational investments to enhance capacity and capability in key locations. This includes the completion of the site expansions in Mexico, India and Indonesia, with further expansion in Türkiye due to complete in the coming months.
This additional capacity allows the group to support a range of customers who are reconfiguring their supply chains to localise production and mitigate risk.
The group’s encouraging performance in the first quarter, combined with the ongoing investment plans, improving market backdrop in key sectors and continued integration of Murat Ticaret, gives the board confidence in Volex’s ability to make further progress against its strategy during the year and deliver on its expectations.
::
Ultimate Products, the Oldham-based owner of a number of leading homeware brands, has confirmed that Christine Adshead has officially assumed the role of Non-Executive Chair, today (August 1) replacing James ‘Jim’ McCarthy, as announced on April 29, 2024.
Christine is a former Partner at PwC, where she spent nearly 20 years providing transaction advisory services across a range of corporate activities and a variety of sectors, including retail and consumer goods. She was PwC’s London region private equity leader, as well as being a national leader for mid-tier private equity.
Christine was also an elected member of the PwC Supervisory Board, the governance body for PwC in the UK, which represents the interests of more than 900 Partners and is responsible for providing constructive challenge to PwC’s UK Executive Board.
She is a Non-Executive Director and board member of Hill Dickinson, the Liverpool-based international commercial law firm. She has served on the board of Ultimate Products as a Non-Executive Director since September 2020.
Christine Adshead said: “I am deeply grateful for the outstanding leadership provided by my predecessor, Jim McCarthy. On behalf of the board, I would like to extend our best wishes to him for the future.
“Having been a Non-Executive Director on the board of Ultimate Products since 2020, I have witnessed first hand the exceptional dedication of this company in bringing beautiful products to every home. I am very much looking forward to continuing to work closely with the team to build on our successes and drive forward our ambitious and brand-led international growth plans.”