QinetiQ to restructure to revive profits

DEFENCE firm QinetiQ posted a 34 per cent fall in full-year profit, hit by delays in the award of government contracts, and said it would restructure the business in a bid to revive profits.

QinetiQ, which makes hi-tech military equipment such as bomb disposal robots and sniper detectors, reported an underlying pretax profit of 85.7m on flat sales of 1.62bn for the year to the end of March.

The company was expected to report a full-year pretax profit of between 57m and 140m, with the consensus at 89.1m.

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"Our markets are likely to remain uncertain for some time," said chief executive Leo Quinn.

"We are changing our structure to benefit from QinetiQ's overall strengths. With these immediate steps, the board believes it will meet its expectations for the current year."

QinetiQ wants to slash operating costs as part of a review of the business by recently installed CEO Quinn.

The company said it would move to a new structure comprising three divisions: US Services, UK Services and Global Products and plans to suspend dividend payments for 12 months.