Anyone looking at Defence manufacturers, the likes of BAE Systems (LON:BA.) , Umeco, Chemring etc? Whilst I appreciate the inevitable defence cuts impending, it seems that the global picture will still provide some sustinence to the bigger players such as BAE Systems.
A British company has become the largest arms dealer in the world, with £21bn in weapons sales... Former British Aerospace group's arms sales are ahead of American market leaders Lockheed Martin and Boeing. The report reveals BAE's US subsidiary was alone responsible for 61.5% of the group's arms sales and around 58.5% of total group sales. (http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=502716)
Diversifying away from historically unreliable UK and European Defence markets into the US was always a smart move, despite setbacks pertaining to their Armoured Vehicle division and and US lawsuits over the odd alleged bung thrown to secure contracts. Every manufacturers engages in some form of soft commission these days so I personally didn't see the problem. Until the recent rise was a rather nice dividend too, now circa 4% last time I looked.
Any thoughts? GD US is still a favourite, despite not currently owning any.
