Qinetiq reorganises to defend against losses

Qinetiq said that in both the UK and the US, the defence markets remained challenging as a result of the economic environment. Additionally in the UK, the impending Strategic Defence and Security Review added uncertainty to forecasts for defence spending. Chief executive Leo Quinn (pictured) said it had been a difficult year for Qinetiq, with challenging conditions in its core markets and considerable internal change. "Our markets are likely to remain uncertain for some time, but we now have a decisive programme of self-help to restore value. We are acting to make our costs more competitive, our productivity better and our debt lower. We are changing our structure to benefit from Qinetiq's overall strengths. Most of all, we are working to transform our culture into one based on leadership, accountability and empowerment of what is an outstanding group of people." The improvement measures the company is taking include moving to a new structure; assessing its top leaders; introducing a performance management system; rigorously examining business processes, key supplier contracts and, in the UK, legacy employee terms and conditions; and eliminating loss-making activities. In the year to 31 March, the former UK national Defence Research Agency which was floated on the London stock market in 2006, recorded flat revenues of £1.6 billion and a pre-tax loss of £66.1 million.