Babcock International Group PLC Pre-close trading statement
Babcock International Group PLC (Babcock or the Group), the UK's leading engineering support services company, today provides an update on trading for the half year ended 30 September 2012. The Group's half year results will be released on Tuesday 6 November 2012.
Group overview
Trading across the Group has continued to be positive during the first half of the 2012/13 financial year and we remain confident of meeting our expectations for this financial year and delivering strong progress on last year.
Our businesses continue to experience buoyant market conditions, in both civil and military markets, as current and potential customers continue to seek increased efficiency and improved availability of assets. This is driving further opportunities for the Group, where we can benefit from our market leading positions and our track record of delivering efficiencies for our customers.
During the first half, cash generation across the Group has remained strong and as a result we expect to see further reduction in net debt at the half year.
Order book and bid pipeline
The order book has remained stable at around £13 billion. Across the divisions there has been a regular flow of smaller contract wins and extensions moving from the bid pipeline during the first half of the year.
The bid pipeline, which increased to £13 billion at the time of the IMS in July, has also remained stable with a significant number of large opportunities under bid, the majority of which we expect to be awarded over the next 18 months.
Reflecting the buoyant market conditions we are experiencing, we continue to identify new opportunities before a formal competitive process has begun. During the first half these have included both civil and military opportunities, in the UK and overseas, where we can benefit from our expertise and the strength of our market positions. We are currently tracking significant defence equipment and training support opportunities which we expect to come to market and move into the bid pipeline over the next 12 - 24 months.
Outlook
Babcock is well positioned to help our customers formulate cost efficient support solutions and we believe the current economic climate will continue to create significant medium and long-term growth opportunities both in the UK and overseas.
The strength of the order book continues to provide excellent visibility of future revenue streams across the Group. Since the beginning of the financial year this position has been further supported by growth in the bid pipeline and new opportunities coming into the tracking pipeline. As a result we continue to benefit from excellent visibility of future revenues and we enter the second half with c 90% of the Group's anticipated revenue for the 2012/13 financial year currently contracted and over 50% for the 2013/14 financial year. The Board therefore remains confident of meeting its expectations for this financial year and delivering strong progress on last year.
