Defence company BAE Systems posted a rise in annual profits and said that it expects earnings to grow in 2019.

Pre-tax profit increased to £1.22 billion for 2018 from £1.07 billion a year earlier.

For 2019, the group expects underlying earnings per share to grow by mid-single digits compared to 42.9p per share in 2018.

However, revenue slipped to £16.82 billion from £17.22 billion due to lower production of Typhoon aircraft.

BAE's order intake increased to £8.28 billion from £20.26 billion, with the company having an order backlog of £48.4 billion.

Highlights for its maritime division, which includes the BAE Systems Submarines site at Barrow, included a £25 million training academy built to develop the world-class engineering skills required to design, build and deliver complex submarine programmes to the Royal Navy.

The academy will provide bespoke training to almost 9,000 employees including nearly 800 apprentices.

It was opened by Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson in December.

During his visit, Mr Williamson also announced a further £400 million for ongoing work on Dreadnought. The firm also announced a further 280 employees being recruited to join Submarines on early careers programmes this year.

This follows more than 250 employees that joined as apprentices, higher apprentices or graduates in 2018, as the business continues to support the ramp up of production on the Dreadnought programme.

BAE Systems chief executive Charles Woodburn said: "The group made good progress in strengthening the outlook and geographic base of the business, with a number of significant contract wins.

"The defence order backlog is now at a record high with visibility on many of our key programmes through the next decade. Delivering a strong operational performance and continued investment will enable us to meet our growth expectations and underpin the long term."

In 2017, BAE Systems’ Submarines spent about £700m with more than 700 suppliers.