Ultra Electronics Holdings PLC (LON:ULE) said trading has been ahead of expectations in the six months to 2 July.
The engineer said its order book continues to grow and is significantly ahead of last year, while orders for the full financial year are expected to be well ahead of 2020, driven by Maritime, Intelligence & Communications and Forensic Technology.
The FTSE 250 group added that half-year group revenue has been robust, while the disruption caused by COVID-19 in the Maritime SBU division has been resolved.
Net financial debt declined to £32mln at the end of May, with robust cash conversion due to good working capital management, strong advanced payments and lower-than-expected capital expenditure.
“Revenue growth in the first half was robust and is likely to end the year in line with expectations, but profit should be ahead, driven by a combination of: earlier-than-expected benefits from the ongoing transformation programme; extremely strong performance in the Comms and Cyber business units; lower indirect costs from COVID-19-driven working practices; and lower than planned R&D spend,” analysts at Peel Hunt said.
Shares rose 2% to 2,344p on Monday morning.