British engineer Cobham intends to reinstate dividend

LONDON (Reuters) - British engineer Cobham said it planned to reinstate a progressive dividend after it strengthened its balance sheet and forecast more progress in 2019.

Cobham, Britain's third-biggest defence and aerospace group behind Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems, said it had seen progress across the group, apart from in the Advanced Electronic Solutions unit.

It reported underlying operating profit of 196 million pounds in 2018, down from 213 million pounds the year before. With 10.3 million pounds of net cash at the year end, it expects to pay a full-year dividend of 1.0 pence.

(Reporting by Kate Holton, editing by James Davey)