Results round-up

Ultra Electronics, the technology focused defence and security products group, said US orders continued to be held back by the delayed government budget but that its full year expectations remained unchanged.

Trading in the six months ending 30 June was said to be in line with management expectations, with the 2017 financial year still expected to be more heavily weighted to the second half than normal due to the US budget.

The US budget was approved in early May, meaning US orders were deferred to the end of the first half and pushed into the second half of this year.

Despite this hold-up, Ultra said there had been "positive momentum in the order intake" and that its book-to-bill ratio -- new orders versus completed sales -- reached 1.1 times at the end of May 2017.

"The board remains confident of making further progress in 2017; our expectations for the full year remain unchanged," the FTSE 250 company said, noting that full year cash conversion remained in-line with previous guidance.

In March, CEO Rakesh Sharma relayed the optimism about the defence market, saying internal analysis "suggests a return to growth in the global defence sector, fuelled by expected higher defence spending under the new US administration and increasing global tensions".

Saga, the provider of products for the over-50s, said its insurance and travels business had enjoyed a "good" first quarter as it begins a major transition to a new business model.

Ahead of its annual shareholder meeting, the FTSE 250 company said the insurance and travel businesses "continued their good start to the year" during the period from 1 February to 21 June, despite citing the backdrop of changing political and economic environment.

In March, new chief executive Lance Batchelor laid out his strategy to shift Saga to a new lower-capital model where it will use its deep knowledge of its most loyal 'High Affinity Customers' to enable it to increase margins by acting as a broker of various third-party services under the name of 'Saga Possibilities'.

Said Batchelor on Thursday: "We remain on track to deliver on our strategic objectives, including the launch of our membership scheme, Saga Possibilities, which will go live later this year."

Interim results will be announced on 22 September.

Previewing the update earlier in the month, broker Numis thought the first quarter was too early for the company to show material progress with its new strategy.

"Recently there has been less emphasis on outright growth in insurance customer numbers but instead greater priority on attracting insurance customers that are likely to become HACs," said analyst Nick Johnson.

"As such we do not expect significant growth in insurance customers in either motor or home this year. Instead we expect the travel business to be the main short term growth driver," he said.