An engineering company which has its defence division at Castle Donington has reported a rise in profits.

Babcock International, which owns Babcock Defence Services at Pegasus Business Park, yesterday announced a 53 per cent rise in annual profits to £95.5m.

Babcock's results were buoyed by its acquisition of Plymouth's Devonport Dockyard last year, making it the UK's largest naval maintenance firm.

The firm has also increased its technical know-how in the civil nuclear market after buying International Nuclear Solutions.

The two deals boosted revenues and lifted orders to £3bn.

Babcock is preparing to embark on a deal to build two aircraft carriers for the Ministry of Defence.

It is currently upgrading its Rosyth dock in Scotland to assemble the giant ships, which each weigh 65,000 tonnes.

Babcock said it was confident the Government would press ahead with the project to build the two carriers - the largest ever built in the UK - although the final contracts have yet to be placed.

The deal could be worth as much as £600m to the company.

Source: This Is Derbyshire

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