Impairment charge drags BAE lower

LONDON: European defense contractor BAE Systems PLC posted a net loss for the first half of the year yesterday, as the company wrote off the value of some assets and booked significant finance costs.

However, its closely watched operating earnings rose sharply to nearly 1 billion pounds and the company said it expects "good growth" for the full year despite falling demand for land vehicles sales.

BAE posted a net loss of 70 million pounds ($115 million) in the six months to June 30, 2009, compared with a profit of 599 million pounds in the year-ago period, after booking impairment charges totaling some 290 million pounds on two new businesses. It also recorded expenses of 445 million pounds in relation to revaluation of financial instruments, foreign currency movements and pension accounting.