News

Interim Results for the half year ended 30 September 2012

21/11/2012

  H1 FY2013 H1 FY2012
(restated^)
Change
Business Performance
Revenue £685.5m £739.6m (7)%
Organic change at constant currency (8)% (9)%  
Underlying operating profit* £95.3m £81.9m 16%
Underlying operating margin* 13.9% 11.1%
Underlying profit before tax* £85.8m £71.2m 21%
Underlying net cash from operations (post capex)* £95.7m £157.1m (39)%
Underlying cash conversion ratio* 101% 192%  
Net cash /(debt) £21.5m £(145.3)m  
Underlying earnings per share* 10.5p 8.8p 19%
Dividend per share 1.1p 0.9p 22%
Statutory Reporting
Operating profit £87.8m £79.0m  
Profit before tax £80.0m £73.3m  
Earnings per share 9.9p 9.4p  

Headlines

Strong first half performance in challenging markets; Group margin uplift driven by UK Services and Q-Net™ sales; Excellent cash generation; Net cash position achieved – net debt reduced by over £550m since 31 March 2009; Interim dividend: 1.1p (H1 FY12: 0.9p), reflecting solid foundation for value creation; and Early adoption of IAS19 (revised) “Employee benefits”.

Commenting on the results, Leo Quinn, QinetiQ Chief Executive Officer said:

“QinetiQ has delivered a strong first half performance in challenging markets and achieved a position of net cash on its balance sheet – an important milestone in the transformation of the Group.

“We are now implementing our next strategic phase, the Organic-Plus programme announced in May 2012, to grow QinetiQ’s sustainable earnings and build value over the medium term.

“Visibility remains much lower than usual, particularly in the US. Despite this uncertainty, with the benefit of the strong first half performance the Board believes the Group as a whole will perform in line with its expectations for the year, absent any material change in customer requirements.”

Other information

UK Freephone:                                     0800 634 5205

International / London local:         +44 (0)208 817 9301

A FTSE250 company, QinetiQ uses its domain knowledge to provide technical support and know-how to customers in the global aerospace, defence and security markets. QinetiQ's unique position enables it to be a trusted partner to government organisations, predominantly in the UK and the US, including defence departments, intelligence services and security agencies.

For further information please contact:

Media relations:
QinetiQ press office                        +44 (0) 1252 393500
Liz Morley, Maitland                        +44 (0) 7798 683108

Investor relations:
David Bishop, QinetiQ                   +44 (0) 7920 108675

* Definitions of underlying measures of performance can be found in the glossary
^ IAS19 (revised) “Employee benefits” has been adopted for FY13 and the H1 FY12 comparatives have been restated accordingly