BAE Systems PLC BA, +3.03% said Thursday that pretax profit rose in 2021 on higher sales, and that in 2022 it looks forward to continuing top-line growth with margin expansion and good cash delivery against its rolling targets.
The U.K. defense-and-aerospace group said pretax profit was 2.11 billion pounds ($ 2.86 billion) compared with a profit of GBP1.6 billion for 2020.
Sales rose to GBP21.31 billion from GBP20.86 billion a year earlier.
Net profit was GBP1.76 billion compared with GBP1.3 billion the year before, and consensus of GBP1.56 billion, taken from FactSet and based on nine analysts’ forecasts.
Revenue rose to GBP19.5 billion from GBP19.28 billion the year before.
Underlying earnings per share–a metric which strips out exceptional and other one-off items–on a constant currency basis rose 12% to 47.8 pence.
The company said that it expects sales in 2022 to grow in the 2% to 4% range over the previous year, with sales in the platforms and services segment expected to be stable.
Underlying EPS is expected to increase in the 4% to 6% range in 2022, the company said.
The board declared a final dividend of 15.2 pence a share, taking the total for the year to 25.1 pence.
Write to Anthony O. Goriainoff at anthony.orunagoriainoff@dowjones.com