Qinetiq's FY results beat expectations

In the year to the end of March 2019, underlying pre-tax profit increased 2% to £124.0m on revenue of £911.1m, up from £833m the year before, with orders 32% higher. Analysts had been expecting profit of £115.1m and revenue of £877.5m.

The full-year dividend per share was lifted to 6.6p from 6.3p a year earlier.

During the period, the company secured a £1.3bn amendment to a long-term partnering agreement (LTPA) with the UK Ministry of Defence, won five competitive long-term programmes and completed one acquisition and one strategic investment to grow its training offering.

Chief executive officer Steve Wadey said: "This has been an excellent year with strong operational performance. By improving our customer focus and competitiveness, we have delivered a third successive year of revenue growth, increased our international revenue share from 21% to 30% over the last three years, offset the UK single source profit headwind and delivered organic profit growth.

"Securing the LTPA amendment and winning five major competitive, long-term programmes demonstrates that our strategy is working, providing a platform for sustainable profitable growth."

For FY20, the group maintained its expectations, excluding non-recurring trading items, "with revenue growth at stable margins resulting in continued operating profit progression".

At 0940 BST, the shares were up 3.8% at 308.20p.