Babcock continues strong growth as half year revenues rise

Babcock International Group has seen 12% growth in underlying revenue for the first half of the year, due to strong growth in its support services division.

The FTSE 100 engineering firm's results for the six months to 30 September on Tuesday showed underlying revenue grew from £2.10bn to £2.35bn, which helped boost the group’s underlying operating profit by 6% to £253m.

Profit before tax also rose compared to the previous year from £187m to £213.6m – a rise of 11%.

A 30% rise in sales in its support services division to £729.4m helped shore up the company, driven by Cavendish Nuclear in the Magnox and Dounreay decommissioning projects.

However it warned that its UK power business had experienced some difficulties.

Babcock also revealed that at the end of October, 92% of revenue was already in place for the full year

The results noted the company remained confident it will continue to make good progress during the year, with results due to be in line with expectations.

Chief executive Peter Rogers said the company had maintained its strong record.

"Our sector leadership positions, excellent track record and operational scale enable us to continue to capitalise on healthy levels of demand in established and new markets, in Britain and overseas.”