The UK's biggest engineering company has enjoyed a record year for new orders as western governments stepped up defence spending in response to the war in Ukraine..

Britain's premier defence contractor saw a record order intake of £37.1bn - taking its order backlog to £58.9bn.

BAE, which has a base at Gloucester Business Park, is currently building type 26 frigates for the Royal Navy, making electronic warfare systems for the F-35 jet fighter and making the Beowulf unarmoured all-terrain vehicle for the US Army.

The company said it was expecting order growth this year to be better still.

Underlying operating profits for 2022 were £2.5bn - up 12.5% on 2021 - as top line sales grew by 4.4% to £23.3bn.

The results allowed the company to raise its dividend to shareholders for the 19th consecutive year.

Chief executive Charles Woodburn said: "We've delivered another year of strong results across the group. Our employees have done an outstanding job to effectively manage supply chain and inflationary pressures whilst delivering critical capabilities and driving efficiencies for our customers.

"Our diverse geographic footprint, deep customer relationships and highly relevant, leading defence technologies mean we're well positioned to support national security requirements in an elevated threat environment.

"Our record orders and financial performance give us confidence in delivering long-term growth and to continue investing in new technologies, facilities and thousands of highly skilled jobs, whilst increasing shareholder returns.

"The positive outcome of the UK pension triennial review, along with our performance and confidence in the outlook enable us to maintain our guidance, continue to invest in our business and progress our ESG agenda whilst increasing returns to our shareholders."