British armaments company BAE Systems today warned an expected drop in orders from the British government, could cost it millions of pounds and result in "sizeable" job cuts.
A project delay hit profits and the announcement sent its stock into sharp decline to show a loss of 14.4 per cent to 304.5 pence, BAE added.
The company said it would take a charge of #115 million sterling (euro 191.6 million) in 2001 because of an expected decline in orders from the British Ministry of Defence.
The pre-tax exceptional cost compared to #110 million pounds in one-off charges in 2000, the company said in a statement.
BAE also said delays in modernising the British Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft had reduced its pre-tax profit by #300 million in 2000, and would cut #210 million out of 2001 profits.
The aerospace giant, formed in November 1999 by the merger of British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems (MES), warned "sizeable" job losses could result from the expected shortfall in orders for its Hawk training aircraft and business from the Ministry of Defence.
AFP