Tuesday, November 11, 2008

VT Group PLC: Interim results for the half year ended 30 September 2008

VT Group PLC: Interim results for the half year ended 30 September 2008
11 November 2008

VT Group plc, the defence and support services company, today announces its interim results for the half-year ended 30 September 2008.
Results Summary – Continuing Operations

2008 2007 Change
• Revenue (excluding Joint Ventures) £538.4m £496.2m +9%
• Group Turnover* £715.8m £573.1m +25%
• Underlying Profit Before Taxation** £48.0m £42.3m +13%
• Profit Before Taxation £131.4 £34.2m +284%
• Underlying Earnings Per Share (p)*** 19.4p 17.7p +10%
• Basic Earnings Per Share (p) 70.3p 16.0p +339%
• Interim Dividend Per Share (p) 3.9p 3.55p +10%

Notes:
* Includes share of turnover from equity accounted joint ventures and associates

** Underlying Profit before taxation (and underlying operating profit also referred to in this statement) excludes intangible amortisation arising from business combinations (£10.9m; 2007: £4.1m), share of joint venture taxation (£2.9m; 2007: £4.0m), fair value gain arising on BVT option instrument (£1.9m; 2007: £nil) and exceptional items (£95.3m profit; 2007: £nil)

*** Before exceptional items, fair value movement on BVT option instrument and intangible amortisation arising from business combinations

On 1 July 2008 we contributed our naval shipbuilding and related support business to BVT Surface Fleet Limited, a joint venture with BAE Systems plc (the “BVT Joint Venture”) and now report our interest in the BVT Joint Venture (and our shipbuilding and related support business prior to the transaction) in a new segment, BVT Naval. Throughout this statement we refer to other segments collectively as Services businesses, which include VT Support Services, VT Communications, VT Education & Skills and VT Services Inc..
These definitions apply throughout this statement
Highlights:

Services businesses have achieved:
Organic revenue growth of 9%
28% increase in underlying operating profit
72% increase in order book to £4.6 billion
Further margin improvement to 4.6% in VT Services Inc
BVT Surface Fleet Limited Joint Venture established

VT Group Chairman Michael Jeffries commented: “In the current difficult economic conditions our Services businesses continue to make good progress. The strength of the order book and the longevity of contracts provides us considerable protection from the current short term effect of the economic downturn.

"The current Services businesses order book stands at £4.6 billion, which represents an increase of more than 70% compared to the corresponding period in 2007. In addition, our share of the order book of BVT Surface Fleet is £1.5 billion. This total order book of £6.1 billion provides the group with excellent visibility.

"The performance of our Services businesses continues to show good growth, which we anticipate will deliver results ahead of our original expectations for the current full year.

"The full year results for VT’s 45% share of the newly formed BVT Surface Fleet will be determined by progress on integrating the contributed businesses and ongoing contract reviews by BVT.

"Our strategy is to continue focusing on VT’s core strengths by developing our engineering based Services businesses. The overall trading environment remains robust and continues to offer significant growth opportunities in our markets."


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