Commenting on the results, Graham Love, Chief Executive Officer, said:
"The Group produced a strong performance in the first six months, reflecting the broad strength and resilience of our operations. Our North American operations performed well with 19% organic revenue growth, and following its reorganisation, our EMEA business is better focused with a lower cost base.
We remain well placed in areas expected to be key priorities of the new US Administration and expect continued double digit growth in QNA into the medium term.
In the UK we are both well positioned through our technology insertion expertise to respond to changing customer demand and to continue to support existing military operations. In addition our business is underpinned by a number of long term managed service contracts.
There remains a strong pipeline of acquisition opportunities and we will be selective in pursuing those that complement and grow our capabilities and provide access to new markets. We plan to undertake the disposal of certain non-core assets which will enable us to reallocate capital into quality investments whilst retaining a resilient balance sheet.
With the good growth experienced in the first half and a solid order backlog, the Board is announcing a 12.8% increase in the interim dividend and looks forward to the remainder of the year with confidence."