Business Financial Newswire
"BAE Systems is setting up a joint venture with Mahindra & Mahindra to create a land systems focused defence company in India.

BAE Systems will have a 26% shareholding in the joint venture and Mahindra will have a 74% shareholding.

The parties have agreed to contribute US$21.25m, with BAE Systems investing US$5.83m in cash and Mahindra contributing the balance.

Completion of the transaction is conditional upon required regulatory approvals and the joint venture is expected to be established in the first half of 2010. "

Business Financial Newswire
"BAE Systems share price rose more than 8p to 346.9p in the immediate aftermouth of an announcement that it was being fined $400m for making false statements on US regulatory filing.

The Company also said that it had reached agreement with the SFO regarding the payments to a former marketing adviser in Tanzania and will pay a 30m penalty for a breach of duty on accounting records.

The market was intially relieved that the fines were not bigger and the shares were in demand just before the close, up 8.3p to 348.8p.

Earlier in the day Nomura had put out a buy recomendation arguing that the stock was cheap and the cash generation was strong. Normura's target price is 450p. "

"On 27 August 2009 BAE Systems announced that it had been notified by the US Department of Defense (DoD) that it had not been awarded a follow-on contract for production of vehicles under the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) programme.

Following protests of that decision the US Government Accountability Office recommended a re-evaluation of the offerors' proposals.

The Group has now been informed that the decision not to award the contract to BAE Systems has been confirmed. With confirmation of this decision the Group will include in its 2009 accounts an impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets amounting to 592 million relating to the Armor Holdings Inc. transaction and specifically the FMTV product line."

harry does that mean no more back handers ...no more contracts, they are going to have to find a new modus operandi pretty fast.

ha bloody ha! ..... what's the diff between a secondary commission and a bribe? ..... bugger all, except that BAE didn't show secondary commission in its books, as that would have pointed the finger too precisely ..... whole thing was just sour grapes by Boeing and/or Lockheed.

everyone knows that if you want to do biz in many areas of the world, the wheels have to be oiled

I have never actually owned this share but for some reason it's my number 1 SB beginning of December for the last 4 years, it just seems to like Xmas :o) Goes down in Jan and then just meanders with the occassional rally during the year, amazing! Sorry that is no help whatsoever just something I have noticed.

Big company but seems to be run by those with little concern for shareholders.

"BAE Systems plc has today agreed the sale of half of its 20.5% shareholding in Saab AB. The share sale transaction will comprise the conversion of BAE Systems' 1,047,180 Saab 'A' shares to Saab 'B' shares and the subsequent sale of 11,166,173 Saab 'B' shares to Investor AB for a cash consideration of SEK 1,066 million. If completion occurs after 20 April 2010, the record date for the dividend of SEK 2.25 per share, the price will be reduced by SEK 25 million.

Following completion of the transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, BAE Systems will retain 11,166,173 Saab 'B' shares. BAE Systems will hold this residual interest as an investment and intends to dispose of it through a market placing in due course."

StockMarketWire.com
"BAE Systems has completed the acquisition of Atlantic Marine Holding Co for $352m in cash.

Atlantic Marine is a vessel maintenance, repair, overhaul, and conversion, marine fabrication, and ship construction services provider with operations at Mayport and Jacksonville, Florida, Moss Point, Mississippi, and Mobile, Alabama. "

Went short yesterday @329.1 initial target 310 tight stop @ 332. Interims due 29th.

Am expecting a re-rating from the brokers now that the VT aquisition has been completed. Am not expecting much downside personally, but you may be right.

Worth a shot Harry, tight stop.

Moved stop to lock in a wee profit to 325 and for risk free trade.

Ignore my post #25 ref VT. I am talking cr*p as it's Babcock buying VT not BAE.
BAE Systems actually bought VT Group's 45% shareholding in BVT Surface Fleet for 346m, which is where my confusion was.
Good luck with the short.

Presumably you had already seen the broker note out today then CC?
"BAE Systems (EW, 375p PT): lack of near-term growth and poor sentiment from defence budget cuts overshadow very attractive valuation and strong export potential. Whilst we continue to believe that the market underestimates both the quality of US defence electronics and BAEs strong export potential, we downgrade to EW because we believe a material re-rating in the stock is unlikely whilst low near-term growth and defence budget cuts persist."

No Harry, been on my watchlist for a while recently lost a good contract to their US rivals and even though their recent aquisition is for long term good, can't help feeling with sentiment for anything British pretty low at the mo in US and defence cuts, shorterm growth not looking good, IMO. May be totally wrong.

Moved stop to 320.1 to lock in a good profit, away to play golf.

Closed position @ 317.1 + 12

"Strong results and upgraded full year profits guidance has not been enough to overcome investor concerns about future prospects for BAE Systems, a situation acknowledged by Nomura Securities decision to slice its price target for the defence systems firm.

The broker is sticking with its buy recommendation despite chopping the price target from 450p to 410p to account for a higher risk premium investors are likely to demand given the increased long-term budget uncertainty in the US and Europe.

Macro concerns about budgetary pressures have kept investors from focusing on the company's structural growth outlook and strong cash generation, argues Nomura analyst Jason Adams."

Still watching Harry, held pretty steady since my last short. Ex Divi 20th Oct. May be worth another short punt.