Ultra boosted by strong US defence spend

Defence supplier Ultra Electronics has seen rises in its revenue and order book in the first half of 2019, boosted by strong US defence spend and increased demand on existing programmes.

For the six months to June 30, the company’s order book increased organically by 6.6% to £1,014.1m from £969.2m, reflecting improving defence budgets, notably in the US, and some key wins on new and existing programmes.

Revenue grew by 10.4% from £350.5m to £387.1m while underlying pre-tax profit rose from £43.6m to £46.5m.

Simon Pryce, chief executive, said increased demand on existing programmes has helped the company to deliver good order book and revenue growth and an improved financial performance in the first half.

“We are also making encouraging progress in changing Ultra’s culture and on our strategic journey to become a more collaborative and value focussed application-engineered defence, critical detection and control solutions provider.

“We have positive momentum into the second half and remain confident that 2019 will be a year of good progress for Ultra. Importantly, we have won good positions on a number of key new programmes which have significant long term potential. Together with our Focus; Fix; Grow initiatives, which are beginning to have an impact, this gives us confidence in the longer term improvement and growth opportunities for Ultra.”