Jet talks may hit BAE bottom line

BAE Systems yesterday said talks with Saudi Arabia over changes to its order for 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets would continue into 2012 and possibly impact its 2011 profits.

The defence contractor said: “The achievement of the group’s previous guidance for 2011, of underlying earnings per share broadly similar to that for 2010, included some dependency on the conclusion of the [Eurofighter] negotiations.”

It said talks continued over proposed changes to the final assembly of the last 48 aircraft, the creation of a maintenance facility in Saudi Arabia and the formalisation of price changes.