BAE Systems posts 'strong' full-year profit and sales

BAE Systems posted strong full-year growth on both its top and bottom lines.
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Sales at the defence engineer rose by 14% to reach £28.3bn over the 12 months ending on 31 December 2024.
Underlying profit registered a similar percentage point gain to £3.02bn.
BAE boss Charles Woodburn described the visibility afforded by the outfit's record order backlog as "exceptional" and said management was still confident about the positive momentum in the business.
The company's free cash flow slipped by £88m to £2.51bn. Nevertheless, net cash flow from operating activities did improve to £3.93bn on an IFRS basis.
Outstanding orders grew by £2.4bn to £60.4bn on an IFRS basis.
As defined by the group, the order backlog grew by 11% to reach a record £77.8bn, including £3bn-worth of orders linked to SMS.
The dividend per share was raised by 10% to 33.0p.
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