Results round-up

BAE Systems confirmed the 2017 has started with "good momentum" as the defence and aerospace contractor cited an improving outlook for defence budgets in a number of its markets.

In a statement ahead of the FTSE 100 group's annual shareholder meeting, chief executive Ian King said trading for the period has remained consistent with expectations at the time of February's results announcement.

The outlook remains unchanged, with 2017 underlying earnings per share expected to be approximately 5% to 10% higher than the 40.3p delivered last year.

"We have started the year with good momentum building on a strong operational performance in 2016 and the business is performing well," King said, adding that with an improving outlook for defence budgets in a number of our markets in 2017 and beyond, "we are well placed to continue to generate attractive returns for shareholders".

King, who will retire and be replaced by Charles Woodburn with effect from 1 July, noted the recent agreement of the US budget, which it said underpinned the medium term planning assumptions for its US businesses.

Its new San Diego dry dock accepted its first docking in the first quarter and the US ship repair business received orders of $352m (£284m) in the quarter, while early in April BAE was awarded a $112m (£87m) contract by the US Army to perform technical support and sustainment of M88 recovery vehicles.

UK defence requirements were said to have remained consistent with the commitments made as part of the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review, with the most notable contract in the period being a £1.4bn Royal Navy contract for the sixth Astute Class submarine.

Catering company Compass reported a rise in first-half revenue as it benefited from a weaker pound, and announced a £1bn special dividend.

In its results for the six months to the end of March, the group said revenue rose 20.3% to £11.5bn, with operating profit up 24.6% to £877m and earnings per share of 37.5p, up from 30.4p in the first half of last year. The company said all three benefited by more than 15% from the translational effect of a weaker pound.

Compass declared an interim dividend of 11.2p a share, up 5.7% from the year before and proposed a special dividend of £1bn, which it attributed to continued strong cash flow generation. The dividend is expected to be paid in July.

Chief executive Richard Cousins said: "Compass had a good six months, with the business performing as expected. North America continues to deliver excellent growth and trends in Europe are improving. In Rest of World, reasonable growth in Business & Industry, Healthcare and Education was offset by ongoing weakness in Brazil and our Offshore & Remote sector.

"We continue to drive operating efficiencies around the business which, combined with the end of the restructuring in our Offshore and Remote business, resulted in margin improvement of 20bps in the period."

The group said expectations for full-year 2017 are unchanged, with growth weighted to the second half.