Global defence, aerospace and security company BAE Systems has said it "remains on track" to achieve its targets despite continued uncertainties surrounding Covid-19.
The group, which has sites across the UK including in the North West, West Midlands, South West, Yorkshire and the Humber, added that "progress continues in combatting the virus under the vaccination programme in our major markets and our good operational performance underlines our overall confidence in the full year guidance".
In a statement issued to the London Stock Exchange, BAE said its air, maritime, electronic systems and intelligence and security divisions "continue to perform strongly" and there is "positive momentum" in platforms and services (US).
It also said that combat vehicle production across multiple platforms "continues to ramp and is on track to meet agreed delivery schedules", and US ship repair performance is improving following Covid-19 and other disruptions experienced last year.
Applied intelligence has had a "good start to the year with improved performance together with realised benefits from the restructuring".
Chief executive Charles Woodburn said: "I am proud of how our employees have continued to perform and adapt this year, against the backdrop of the global pandemic.
"Our focus for 2021 is driving operational performance, progressing our sustainability agenda and investing in and developing the technologies to meet our customers' needs.
"Our good operational performance underlines our confidence in the full year guidance for top line growth and margin expansion and our three-year cash targets.
"Strategically, our geographically diverse portfolio is aligned to growing defence budget areas; we're ramping up investment in self-funded R&D aligned to customer focus areas and we're leveraging our leading capabilities in evolving markets to ensure we're increasingly well placed to deliver for all our stakeholders."
In March the group completed the acquisition of Pulse Power and Measurement (PPM), an independent developer and manufacturer of high-end electronics.
In April, is also completed the sale of Rokar, a small electronics business, to Elbit Systems.
