Strong group performance at Farnborough's QinetiQ

Published by

Nicky Godding

QinetiQ

Annual revenues for the year to the end of March were up 21 per cent at Farnborough defence technology company QinetiQ, to £1,912.1 million. The company also said that it has a record order intake at £1.74 billion.

Steve Wadey, Group Chief Executive Officer, said: "I am pleased with our strong Group financial results for FY24, delivered against the background of difficult market conditions in the US. These results have been achieved through the outstanding skills of our people, delivering highly relevant services and products critical to enduring national defence and security priorities."

"We enter this year with strong momentum and increasing spending in our major markets, which gives us confidence to increase our guidance for FY25 and underpins our FY27 outlook of around £2.4 billion organic revenue at around 12 per cent margin. With a strengthened balance sheet and enhanced focus on disciplined capital allocation, we are well positioned and have a clear strategy with optionality for additional investment in sustainable growth and further shareholder returns."

QinetiQ, which has its headquarters at Farnborough in Hampshire, employs more than 6,000 people across the UK and overseas. QinetiQ manages and operates extensive testing and evaluation capabilities for air, land, sea and target systems.

QinetiQ was formed in 2001 when the Ministry of Defence split its Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) in two. The smaller portion of DERA was rebranded Dstl (Defence Science & Technology Laboratory). The larger part, including most of the non-nuclear testing and evaluation establishments, was renamed QinetiQ and prepared for privatisation. QinetiQ became a public private partnership in 2002 with the purchase of a stake by US-based private equity company the Carlyle Group.

In 2003, QinetiQ signed a 25 year long term partnering agreement under which it provides UK MOD with innovative and realistic test and evaluation of military and civil platforms, systems, weapons and components on land, at sea and in the air.

In February 2006, QinetiQ was successfully floated on the London Stock Exchange and the Carlyle Group sold its stake in the company.

The name 'QinetiQ' is derived from the scientific term, kinetic, which means relating to or caused by motion. This in turn comes from the Greek kinetikos based on 'kineo', which means 'to move', with connotations towards energetic, enterprising and dynamic. 'QinetiQ' was seen as particularly distinctive and reflects the company's spirit of innovation and creativity, but also energy, motion and progress.

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.