Andy Thomas14:01
Thank you Simon. So that covers the year just passed. Now I'm going to talk about the outlook. I'll start with a broad market position, then I'll talk about some of the investments that we're making in new products and technology to maximize our opportunities, and I'll show you then how our existing order book runs off over the coming years and how it's developed over the past 12 months. So we'll start with the demand picture. The two main driving forces for demand for defense equipment have not changed in the last year: the continuing conflict in Ukraine and the influence of growing Chinese assertiveness really from the Indian Ocean all the way to Australasia. And to add to those, since October last year there's been the developing violent conflict in Gaza and the related instability in that region, particularly in the Red Sea. The conflict in Central Europe is primarily land-based. It has driven demand directly as the NATO countries seek to assist Ukraine to resist the Russian invasion. So 2023 for instance saw a real increase of over 8% in defense spending across the European NATO allies and Canada, so the non-US NATO countries. And it's also made NATO and other countries think again about the balance of their defense forces and equipment. And some aspects of that, for instance increasing ammunition stockpiles, don't have an impact on us, but some of the other lessons learned: the importance of electronic warfare, the need to counter drones of all kinds, the need for accurate and timely battlefield intelligence, all of those have had a positive impact on both our orders and our prospects. And then in Asia, growing Chinese assertiveness has not yet transformed into open conflict but it has come perilously close in the South China Sea. Taiwan is also clearly at risk. The presence of North Korea in the region is not a stabilizing factor, I would add as well. And Chinese investment in its navy, which has been one of the main thrusts of investment in China, has led to a response in the form of new maritime programs in the region and elsewhere. The most visible and significant consequence of that was the AUKUS alliance between the UK, the US, and Australia. Taiwan and the Philippines have also launched new submarine programs. Elsewhere in the region, South Korea is investing heavily in defense, notably in its submarine building program. Japan quite strikingly remains committed to a doubling of its national security spend as a share of GDP by 2027. Its defense spending increased by 27% last year and a further 16% in the current year to 2024. And Japan has also joined the Anglo-Italian Next Generation Combat Aircraft project, balancing its strong historical US relationship with growing ties to Europe and particularly to the United Kingdom.
The conflict in Gaza doesn't have the same direct impact as the other factors, but it's symptomatic of wider tensions in the region primarily between Iran on the one hand and Saudi Arabia and its allies on the other. The attacks on ships in the Red Sea have accentuated the need for drone and missile defense systems, and more widely it's likely to drive further defense spending in what is one of our more important regional markets. It's hard to see how these conflicts and tensions are going to play out in the long term, but it is clear that we're not in a situation that can be resolved with a few compromises and a handshake. The world is now in a new period of instability and tension that I think is likely to persist in the foreseeable future, comparable perhaps to the Cold War but maybe even more complex and unpredictable. Now clearly that's not something that should fill us with happiness. We should all be concerned for the well-being of our families and for future generations. At Cohort, something that really motivates us is that we're able in circumstances like this to make a positive contribution, because the equipment and services that we supply contribute to the security of our nations and our allies in what has become a dangerous world. So in practical terms, what is the impact of all of this for us? Well, looking at our domestic markets, the most important is the United Kingdom. 54% of our total revenue in 2023-24 went to the UK directly and indirectly. And in particular, we have a close relationship with the Royal Navy, with Chess and SEA both significant suppliers of equipment and support. The Anilia win has deepened that relationship further. But we also provide electronic warfare training and software for the British Army and the Royal Air Force, a wide range of communications and electronic warfare equipment from MCL, and exercise support for the UK's Strategic Command. I don't see the recent change of government as being likely to change the fundamentals of UK defense strategy. The new Defense Secretary John Healey is a very able man, he's an experienced minister. He's appointed George Robertson, the former Defense Secretary and Secretary General of NATO, to lead a defense review. All of the indications are that the new Starmer government is responsible, and I don't think any responsible government would take risks with defense at a time like the present. Our domestic markets in Germany and Portugal are important but smaller. And as I mentioned, in Portugal we finally seen some good order intake for the Army, and we're also in discussions about another important program, in this case for the Navy.
In our export markets, we're seeing strong demand from the European NATO countries for air defense systems, particularly for countering the drone threat. And that demand comes to us both directly and via partners like Rheinmetall and BAE Systems. And our capability in this area has brought us into some new markets in Central and Eastern Europe that we haven't accessed before. We are also in Northern Europe providing battlefield reconnaissance systems, as well as more widely electronic warfare software and training. And in the East, we see strong demand from Asia from the Indian Ocean all the way to Australasia. The naval systems in particular, torpedo launchers and communication systems for surface ships, are both in demand. We see good opportunities in this region for Anilia as well, and for sonar systems too. As I mentioned, submarine programs are being launched worldwide and that provides opportunities in countries as diverse as Canada, Poland, and the Philippines. Overall, NATO and the Indo-Pacific are the regions that we supply most, though we're also active in South America and Canada. And overall, the demand picture for Cohort we believe is robust. If we can move on to the next slide. Against that encouraging background, we are increasing our spend on technology development to meet the evolving needs of our customers. This year it was a 26% increase. Now many of the projects that we invest in are sensitive, but I did want to share some examples with you. Looking at the drone threat first, Chess has developed artificial intelligence-based technology to track small and elusive airborne targets like drones. Now that can be combined with high-power jamming to block the drone command and communication signals, or for a more permanent solution, something like the Bofors 40mm cannon that's shown in the picture on the left could be used, and you can see Chess's equipment based on top of that turret. And Chess has also developed related technology to provide battlefield surveillance based on vehicles or on fixed surveillance posts, and that system can be elevated above tree level on a vehicle on a mast, and then used to detect and track, and also using a laser designator to designate targets for smart weapons very accurately at surprisingly long ranges.
And then moving to the underwater world, Elac's new digital sonars offer an extraordinary level of underwater performance. They've reached a new level of sensitivity, and that's been achieved by mounting literally thousands of small sensors into a panel like the one that you can see in that central picture there. They've also used some software, some of which is actually unique and a unique capability to Elac, brought in beamforming which allows targets to not only be detected at longer range than ever, but also to be able to accurately position them in terms of bearing and depth as well. Now I've talked about before SEA's Todor sonar, which is suitable for small lightweight surface vessels. And if you were quick, you might have caught a picture of that which was flashed up as the very first introductory slide. It's become apparent to us from recent exhibitions and conferences and discussions with customers that the world's navies are looking to grow very strongly the number of uncrewed vessels that they deploy, both on the surface of the sea and under the water as well. And SEA's crate Todor sonar is ideally suited to those applications as a lightweight, low power but very sensitive sonar detector. And last but certainly not least, I must mention Anilia, SEA's system for protecting naval surface vessels from the anti-ship missile threat, and you can see that on the right-hand side of the slide. Events in both the Black Sea and the Red Sea have shown us just how potent that threat is. We see a significant international market for Anilia as a result. The product is actually the result of a collaboration between SEA and Chess, and that's a happy outcome because we have two businesses that are world experts respectively in the decoy launcher itself and the stabilized position on which it's mounted under the same roof in Cohort. Now investment in those and in other projects positions us well to meet customer requirements which are evolving for the reasons that I explained earlier. And finally, in terms of investment and no less importantly, we maintain our strategy of seeking and investing in value-adding acquisitions. Now we're very selective, and we won't acquire a business unless we know it will add value and growth in the long term. ITS is a small example of that, but it matches very much our profile.
Now if we can move on to the next slide. I've talked in broad terms about markets and capabilities, but this slide shows the tangible results of the demand picture that I've described. And if you look at the chart on the right-hand side, that shows the order book runoff for the order book that we had at the end of the last financial year in April 2024. At nearly 520 million pounds, the year-end order book is the strongest that we've ever announced. It includes over 180 million for delivery this year and over 100 million for next year already. And of course the Anilia order at over 135 million pounds made a big contribution to that order book, but it's worth mentioning that even without that, we would have seen order intake of over a quarter of a billion pounds in the year, and it would still have been the best year for order intake that we've ever experienced and the best closing order book. Now as I mentioned earlier, since the year end that order book has continued to grow and it reached almost 560 million pounds at the end of June, giving us now 95% or over 95% revenue cover for the year. If you look at the color coding on those columns, you will see that the larger part of our order book now sits with the sensors and effectors division. SEA makes a very strong contribution to that number, Elac and Chess also add significantly to the total. In Communications and intelligence, MCL tends to operate naturally on a short-term order book, so its contribution to the total is modest, although you'll have seen recently we've announced really quite a substantial order that MCL has taken in, mostly for delivery this financial year. Now Mass's order book is substantial but it only increases significantly in years when its large long-term service contracts are renewed. Eid has been in discussion about some substantial domestic programs for what has felt like forever, and that was still ongoing at the year end.
But the good news is since May they've been awarded more than 45 million Euros of new orders, and that significantly replenishes their order book. Now, just for comparison purposes, the chart on the left shows the shape of the order book runoff last year, and what you can see is that it has maintained its shape in broad terms. All of the columns have increased in size. The change that really stands out though is for the longer-term revenue, which has grown from 65 million pounds last year to 167 million pounds this year, almost a 250% increase. And that is the impact of Anilia and other long-term contracts providing a steady flow of revenue for over a decade ahead, in fact out to 2037. And that's a solid foundation that we can build on for growth in the years ahead.
Now, if we move to the next slide, here you can see in tabular form the order book runoff for the current year, together with a comparison against the same position last year. That increase in the total book from 329 million to 519 million, that's more than a 57% increase, is a strong indicator of the potential for future revenue growth. And since then, as I've said, it's gone up to over 560 million with 95% cover for the year. The two shaded columns show the revenue already on order for the year ahead at the year end compared to the same position in 2023.
Now, in Communications and Intelligence, we can see that the underpin is a little higher than last year's, but as I mentioned, that strong order intake from both MCL and EID since the year end has improved that position really quite significantly. But the big change is in Sensors and Effectors, where the underpinning for the year has risen from 84 million last year to over 120 million just from that division, an increase of over 40%. And that's a really big plank in our foundations for growth in the current year.
So that brings me almost to the end of the presentation. If we can have the next slide, here's a summary of the main points that I wanted to make. It's been another record year in terms of performance. We're not resting on our laurels, but we're very pleased to be growing the size and strength of the group. Perhaps even more importantly than the year's performance, we've achieved a record order book and we see a really strong pipeline of further opportunities ahead. As I said, that's grown to over 560 million pounds at the end of June. We've got a strong balance sheet and an excellent relationship with our banks that gives us the resource we need to invest in new technology, greater production capacity, and when opportunities arise, to make carefully targeted acquisitions. The markets that we're operating in are growing and we expect to see those higher levels of spending maintained in the longer term. That book-to-bill ratio achieved of over 1.9 is a reliable quantitative marker for future growth. We maintain our growth expectations for the year and beyond. We expect to see some improvement from the IT acquisition, and then beyond the current year, we believe the combination of growing demand and our market position allows us to target further improvements in performance. I hope what you've heard from us today explains why we've reached that view. As a result of our performance and our prospects, the board has felt confident to increase the dividend by 10% once again, and we've grown the dividend every year since our IPO in 2006. If we can flick on to the final slide, in closing I wanted to take the opportunity to thank our management teams and our employees for their continued hard work and professionalism, because thanks to them this year has seen us take another step towards our exciting long-term future as a major independent UK defense technology group, offering world-class systems to domestic and export customers alike. Our strategy continues to be to generate growth both organically and through acquisitions, while paying a dividend that reflects our successful financial performance, and we believe this offers the best long-term returns for investors while creating high value employment and enhancing the security of the UK and its allies. That's all I wanted to say, thank you very much for your attention. If you have questions, then Simon and I will do our best to answer them.