Ultra Electronics results put a rocket under the shares

Shares in FTSE 250 defence equipment supplier Ultra Electronics (LON:ULE) climbed 9.76% to 2,092p (as of 16:00 GMT) following a 113% increase in pre-tax profits for the year ended 31st December. Revenues were up by 7.7% and there was a solid improvement in the order book driven by organic demand.

CEO Simon Pryce said: “2019 was a busy year for Ultra, and one in which we made great progress. We defined our ONE Ultra strategy and started our Focus; Fix; Grow transformation journey, made good progress on a number of our change initiatives and continued to identify longer term opportunities for enhanced growth and improved efficiency. At the same time, we delivered a good set of outcomes for our stakeholders.

“We enter 2020 with an enhanced, engaged and motivated team and a strong order book. In addition to focussing on improved delivery, we will be accelerating investment in internal R&D and underlying IT infrastructure as well as process standardisation and excellence.

“We remain excited about the significant opportunity within Ultra to accelerate growth, improve delivery and generate exceptional value for all our stakeholders over time. We are increasingly confident in our ability to deliver it“.