CONSTRUCTION of the two Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers and Type 45 destroyers on the Clyde has made significant progress in recent months, builder BAE Systems said yesterday in a half-year trading update.
The surface ships division,which includes its two Scottish yards at Govan and Scotstoun, and other businesses, posted sales of £2.463 billion for the six months to June, 30, 2011.
Underlying earnings before interest, tax and amortisation came in at £285m, the group said, adding that the divsion had orders worth around £20bn, down from £23.7bn for the same period in 2010.
Production of the second flagship, the Prince of Wales, began in May and the mid-section of the first carrier, the Queen Elizabeth, is structurally complete and preparations are under way to transport it to Babcock International’s Rosyth dockyard in August for further work.
Meanwhile, the fourth Type 45 destroyer, Dragon, completed her second set of trials in May and is on track to be delivered to the Royal Navy next month, said a spokesman for BAE Systems, Europe’s largest defence company.
Defender, the fifth Type 45 is currently undergoing final stages of outfit and will head to sea for the first time later this year.
The company also said progress continues to be made on the Type 26 Global Combat Ship programme, with 200 engineers now working to develop the Royal Navy’s new generation warship.
Looking at the overall picture, pre-tax profits slid 12% to £691m on revenues that fell 13% to £9.2bn for the half-year period. Earnings per share from continuing operations fell from 15.6p to 14.5p, but BAE raised its dividend from 7p to 7.5p.
“It has been a challenging market environment,” said Ian King, chief executive. “We’ve already seen significant changes to the shape of spending in the US and UK defence markets with programme cuts and rescheduled spending factored in. ”
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