DEAL DELAY

BAE -- part of the Eurofighter consortium that lost out on the sale of 126 jets to India earlier this year -- said it expected to deliver “modest growth” in 2012 subject to the completion of the Saudi deal.

Saudi Arabia -- the world’s top oil exporter -- signed a contract with BAE in 2007 to buy 72 Typhoon aircraft, 24 of which have been delivered to the Royal Saudi Air Force. The Salam deal, as it is known, is worth around 4.5 billion pounds ($7 billion).

Talks between BAE and Saudi over changes to the price of the deal are expected to be completed in the coming months.

“We’re making good progress in commercial discussions with Saudi, which we anticipate will close it in the second half,” King said.

Shares in BAE, which have risen 7 percent in the last month, were down 1.1 percent at 308.9 pence by 0920 GMT, valuing the business at around 10.5 billion pounds.

EBITA fell to 939 million pounds in the six months to the end of June, above a Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S average forecast of 920 million pounds.

Sales fell 10 percent to 8.33 billion pounds, while the order book edged up 2 percent to 40 billion pounds.

BAE increased its half-year dividend by 4 percent to 7.8 pence per share.