The fund firm, run by one of Britain's most high-profile fund managers, Neil Woodford, held 0.47 percent of its 3.37 billion pound assets in the shares of the engineering firm at the end of last month, according to the fund's factsheet.

"Babcock has a substantial forward order book, good earnings visibility through long-term contracts and looks well positioned to deliver sustainable long-term growth in shareholder returns," the firm said in a blog post.

(Reporting by Nishant Kumar; editing by Carolyn Cohn)