‘Good performance’ from contrite BAE

Reporting an increase in sales to £22.4 billion for the year (2008: £18.5bn) and earnings before tax of £2.2 billion (2008: £1.9bn), BAE said it had " evolved to become one of the world's leading defence companies and is well positioned to weather the pressures in its global markets". With regard to the investigations, the company said that it had earlier this month reached a settlement with the US Department of Justice and the UK Serious Fraud Office that will see it paying fines of approaching £280 million. BAE said it regretted and accepted full responsibility for its past shortcomings and was making additional commitments concerning its ongoing compliance. Looking ahead, BAE said than in 2010 it anticipates growth for three of its four operating groups, while the return on sales for its Land & Armaments business would improve as rationalisation and efficiency programmes progressed. In the US, it said overall defence spending remained robust while in the UK the outlook remained difficult although a large order book reflected the firmly contracted long-term programmes that were a feature of BAE Systems' UK-based business, it said. The largest of those programmes, the Typhoon combat aircraft (pictured), was set for further growth with increasing deliveries to both the four European partner nations and to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.