BAE Systems in top ten of top defence companies
Defense News has published its ‘Top 100’ list of the best performing defence companies based on what it has been able to discern of their 2023 financial results. The top UK entry is BAE Systems, in seventh place behind Lockheed Martin, the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, RTX, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics and Boeing. Leonardo was in 14th position, Rolls-Royce in 23rd, and Babcock International in 34th.
Although the list was dominated by US primes, China and the United Kingdom each had six companies in the top one hundred list, and one each in the top ten.
Defence revenues have risen progressively since 2019 (albeit with an inexplicable ‘dip’ in 2022), and more than three-quarters of the companies in the top 100 list have seen their revenues increasing.
Governments around the world are spending more on defence, in response to a ‘perfect storm’ of destabilising events and conflicts, from Ukraine and Gaza to the South China Sea, and this has boosted defence industry profits.
