AGM Statement

QinetiQ Group plc 28 July 2006 QinetiQ Group plc - AGM Statement 28 July 2006 QinetiQ Group plc, the international defence and security technology company, will hold its Annual General Meeting in London today at 11:00am. At the meeting the Chairman of QinetiQ, Sir John Chisholm, will make the following statement: 'In June we announced our first set of results as a public company which showed that QinetiQ continues to deliver strong growth from its three-pronged strategy of : - focusing on its core UK defence business, - commercialising defence technology into adjacent markets and - expanding into the US defence and security markets. The business continues to perform well and we are pleased to confirm that the outlook remains in line with that described in the Company's 2006 Report and Accounts published in June. The UK defence market will be shaped by the implementation of the Government's Defence Industrial Strategy. Recent announcements have included long term partnerships in the Complex Weapons and Rotorcraft fields, both of which include QinetiQ participation, and the McKane report on the merger of the DPA and DLO which will shape the future of defence procurement. Further announcements that will be important for the company are expected in the autumn including the MOD Research and Technology strategy and the outcome of the Defence Training Rationalisation competition. Our portfolio of new commercialisation opportunities is progressing well. This month we announced a Tarsier sale to Dubai and promising discussions are underway with a number of other airports. So far this year we have also committed further investment of over £5m into Quintel, ZBD and Last Mile Communications. In the US we have announced the appointment of Duane Andrews, our first full-time CEO for QinetiQ North America. Performance in this sector is running in line with expectations with a healthy order book including good performance from our robotics business. The £28.3m acquisition of OSEC in May has performed in line with expectations in its first few weeks in the Group. Acquisitions with deferred consideration arrangements continue to deliver to their targets and accordingly we have paid out some £7m of such consideration to date this year, principally in respect of Westar. We continue to pursue sensibly priced acquisitions, principally in the US, which open new customer markets, complement our technologies and fit with our culture. Looking forward to the half year we expect the seasonality of our underlying trading to be in line with a typical year, with a significantly greater proportion of our UK profit earned in the second half. As previously announced £8m of restructuring costs will also be taken against underlying operating profits in the Defence & Technology sector, further impacting first half margins, whereas last year similar costs were taken in the second half. The Board expects the evolution of QinetiQ's business to continue. The reduction in our MOD research business is being replaced by our fast growing technology supply business while our US business builds and our commercialisation matures. Overall progress remains consistent with expectations at the IPO.' This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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