Vehicle armour saves QinetiQ

26th May 2011 12:14

Defence group QinetiQ has leapt back into the black and reinstated its dividend. The firm posted a pre-tax profit of £26.6m in the year to the end of March, returning from a loss of over £66m the year before.It has proposed a final dividend of 1.60p per share.The company said that without exceptional items profits came in at £145.4m, driven by strong sales of Q-Net, a Kevlar "net" which is attached to vehicles to protect against attack by rocket-propelled grenades.The company warned, however, that it was unlikely to see a repetition of last year's level of Q-NET sales this time round."The board believes that the programme underway to increase competitiveness will enable the group to perform in line with its expectations for the current financial year in what are likely to remain challenging market conditions," said chief executive, Leo Quinn.QinetiQ said its principal markets remained tough, with defence budgets on both sides of the Atlantic under pressure in light of government programmes to reduce fiscal deficits. Group revenues were up 5% but within this US Services revenues fell 7%, affected by government insourcing and by delays in new awards. UK Services revenues also fell by 10% due to pressure on customer budgets, contract delays and the inclusion in last year's figures of pass-through revenues which did not recur.--mm