High arms spending boosts QinetiQ

21st May 2009 08:37

High military spending in the UK and US helped defence group QinetiQ post a sharp rise in revenues and underlying pre-tax profits.In the year to March 31, pre-tax profits climbed to £130.2m from £109m on revenues that rose to £1.617bn from £1.366bn.The company's strong order book was sustained by continuing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.The company will pay a final dividend of 3.25p a share, bringing the total dividend for the full year to 4.75p, from 4.25p previously.QinetiQ said it remains well placed for future growth even as military spending budgets come under scrutiny."The physical and cyber security threats to governments and countries remain as prevalent as ever and we believe that defence, security and intelligence continue to be important markets," it said.QinetiQ also announced the appointment of former IBM senior manager Mark Elliott as an independent non-executive director. Elliott will join the board on 1 June 2009 and is scheduled to replace Sir John Chisholm as chairman when he steps down in August 2010.