Following a four-year hiatus, Babcock International Group plc Board has reinstated the dividend, and has recommended a final dividend of 3.3 pence per share, taking the total dividend for FY24 to 5.0 pence per share (FY23: nil), in line with their capital allocation priorities set out in FY23 to deliver shareholder value.
Other financial highlights include:
- Contract backlog £10.3 billion, up 9%, driven by Nuclear and Marine
- Revenue of £4,390.1 million grew 11% on an organic basis, driven by strong growth in Nuclear and Land
- Statutory operating profit increased to £241.6 million driven by improved performance across the Group, a one-off £17 million profit on property disposal and non-repeat of a £118 million loss on disposals in FY23. Within operating profit is the £90 million loss on the Type 31 contract as set out in their trading update on 17 July 2024
- Underlying operating profit increased 34% to £237.8 million, which includes the loss on Type 31 and profit on property disposal. Strong performance in Nuclear, Land and Aviation
- Underlying operating margin improved 140 basis points to 5.4%, which includes (2.0)% from the Type 31 loss and 0.4% from the profit on property disposal
- Underlying free cash flow of £160 million was significantly better than expected, with operational performance and early customer receipts affording an accelerated £35 million pension deficit repair contribution. Underlying operating cash conversion was 136% (FY23: 173%); excluding Type 31 this was 98% (FY23: 110%)
- Net debt to EBITDA reduced to 0.8x on a covenant basis. Net debt reduced by £129.0 million to £435.4 million
