The BAE directors have declared an interim dividend of 13.8p per share in respect of the year ended 31 December 2019, payable in September, being the value of the dividend proposed but subsequently deferred earlier in the year.
In addition, the directors have also declared an interim dividend of 9.4p per share in respect of the half year ended 30 June 2020. This dividend will be payable in November assuming that there are no major additional or unforeseen pandemic-related disruptions.
Other financial highlights include:
- Sales increased by 4% on a constant currency basis and excluding the impact of acquisitions, to £9.9bn.
- Underlying EBITA of £895m decreased by 11% on a constant currency basis and excluding the impact of acquisitions5.
- Underlying earnings per share decreased by 15% to 18.7p, excluding the impact in 2019 of the one-off tax benefit. The Group's underlying effective tax rate for the first half of the year was 19%.
- Operating business cash outflow of £880m, including the impact of the £1bn injection into the UK pension scheme.
- Net debt at £2,038m (£743m at 31 December 2019) following the £1bn bond issuance to fund the UK pension deficit, and the acquisition of the Airborne Tactical Radios business for cash of £217m.
- Order backlog has increased in the first half of the year to £46.1bn. Trading on multi-year, long-term contracts in the Air sector was offset by a 7% increase in US business and a foreign exchange benefit.
