BAE SYSTEMS PLC The 201-year-old British firm reported a 37 percent fall in half-year underlying pretax profit. De La Rue, which makes over 150 national currencies and UK passports, said underlying pretax profit fell 37 percent to 20.6 million pounds ($32.3 million) from 32.8 million in the first half of last year.
Shares in the company rose as much as 7.3 percent to 591 pence before paring gains. They stood up 0.8 percent at 557p as of 0934 GMT.
Investec analyst Chris Dyett, who upgraded his outlook on the stock to "add", said the statement had reassured investors and he expected to see more operational improvements in the year to come.
"The markets are going to remain difficult for the next couple of years, but De La Rue is well placed. There are things they can do in terms of operation improvements to help mitigate some of that," he said.
Chief Executive Martin Sutherland, who joined the company in October, said he believed there were long-term strengths and potential in its markets despite its headwinds.
"We think this is a strong business, operating in really quite an interesting market ... so whilst you’ve got short-term headwinds in terms of pricing and capacity, we think overall, this business has got a lot of potential," he told Reuters.
Sutherland said he will evaluate the group's strategy and report his findings when the company reports its full-year results in May.
(Reporting by Li-mei Hoang; Editing by Mark Potter and Jason Neely)
By Li-mei Hoang
