Qinetiq makes 'good start' to year

Engineering company Qinetiq said on Thursday that it has made "a good start" to the trading year, with a "strong" group operational performance.

Qinetiq said order intake continued to remain strong and that revenue, profit, and cash were all in line with expectations.

The FTSE 250-listed firm stated that visibility on revenue under contract for the current trading year had increased to £1.05bn, up from £900.0m in April, leaving the company confident that it can deliver a full-year performance in line with internal expectations for mid-single digit organic revenue growth and operating profit towards the mid-point of its 11-12% short-term operating profit margin target, rising to 12% to 13% operating profit margin in the medium term.

Qinetiq highlighted in all of its geographies, Governments were now seeking to enhance their defence and security stance against evolving future threats, with rising defence spending in its home countries of the UK, US, and Australia.

"We have seen a strong start to the year in EMEA Services and continued good progress in the US and other areas of global products. Overall, the group is showing continued growth and profitability in line with our expectations, both in the short and medium term," said Qinetiq.

As of 0950 BST, Qinetiq shares were down 0.053% at 377.60p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com