Profit after tax stood at almost pound1.9 billion ($2.4 billion) for 2023, BAE said in a statement. Revenue climbed nine percent to pound23 billion.

"Our performance, combined with our global footprint and record order intake, means we're well-positioned for sustained growth in the coming years," chief executive Charles Woodburn said in the earnings statement.

He added that investment in new technologies would help the group deliver an "order backlog and help ensure... government customers stay ahead in an uncertain world".

BAE said its order backlog reached a record level of almost pound70 billion last year.

Shares in BAE slid 2.5 percent to pound12.21 in reaction on London's benchmark FTSE 100 index, which was down nearly one percent overall.

Explaining the price drop, Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, told AFP:

"The wider market weakness will not have helped, and there is also the possibility that some investors have simply been taking some profits, with the shares having risen by 35 percent over the last year."

BAE earlier this month completed its purchase of US company Ball Aerospace from the Ball Corporation for about $5.5 billion.

Colorado-based Ball Aerospace supplies spacecraft, mission payloads, optical systems, and antenna systems, and counts the US Department of Defense and civilian space agencies among its clients.

"Despite (BAE) being a UK-based company, a whopping 42 percent of its sales came from the US last year, making it the largest single contributor," Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, noted Wednesday.

"US military spending trumps any other country in the world, so having a large exposure here is proving very beneficial and has helped the group bring in a record pound37.7 billion worth of orders in 2023."

bcp/rfj/rl

Hargreaves Lansdown