Last updated at 10:49, Thursday, 16 February 2012

THE shipyard is expected to announce details of 280 new jobs as the company releases its annual figures.

BAE Systems today released its annual figures for 2011, which revealed sales fell more than expected to £19.2billion in 2011. Underlying profits dropped seven per cent to £2billion.

But in Barrow, the shipyard was named as a key operational success for the group, and the company is expected to announce plans to create 280 new jobs. 

The 280 new positions will include:

• 100 professional engineers
• 30 designers
• 30 test and commissioning engineers
• 50 project managers

The defence and security giant said that overall its order book also declined by eight per cent to £36.2billion and warned that little sales growth can be expected in 2012.

The group said defence spending has reduced in its largest markets – the UK and the US – while it was also hit by a delay in an order for Eurofighters to Saudi Arabia.

BAE is also likely to see its Eurofighter consortium fail to land a large contract to supply fighter jets to India after a French rival was named preferred bidder.

It last year signalled the end of production at its factory in Brough, Yorkshire, as part of a round of 3,000 redundancies at sites across the UK as it adjusts to the difficult climate.

Chief executive Ian King said: “BAE Systems has delivered a robust underlying performance in a challenging business environment. This has enabled the board to increase the dividend by 7.4 per cent, in addition to the £2.2bn returned to shareholders in the past two years.

"The group’s strategy has established a resilient platform for the future as we grow our international, cyber and electronics businesses and drive value from our positions in the services sector and on key programmes.”

First published at 08:06, Thursday, 16 February 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk