Defence technology company QinetiQ Group PLC (LON:QQ.) left its full-year guidance unchanged after its fiscal third quarter trading update.
In the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Services division, the UK environment remains tough but the board remains of the view – publicly at least – that this creates opportunities for QinetiQ.
READ: UBS upbeat on European defence sector on US valuation gap; upgrades rating for QinetiQ
Internationally, QinetiQ said it continued to make good progress, particularly in Australia with positive organic growth and in the Middle East where it has seen strong demand for our advisory services.
On the Global Products side, trading was in line with expectations with the company highlighting “good order performance” in North America.
Following the latest triennial valuation and discussions with QinetiQ's pension scheme trustees, the company had a confirmed actuarial pension surplus of £140.5mln as at 30 June 2017, so it has decided to stop making cash deficit recovery payments of around £10.5mln a year from March 2018.
Shares in QinetiQ were down 0.9% at 198.5p in early trading.