BAE Systems continued its climb back to a solid financial footing on Thursday, announcing that operating profits for the first half of the year had increased £21m ($37.4m) to £486m on £6.1bn in revenues. Write-downs in its avionics business, however, led to a pre-tax loss of £295m.

The £688m write-down was mostly due to a revaluation of the unit ahead of its eventual inclusion in a joint venture with Finmeccanica of Italy called Eurosystems, but investors largely shrugged it off. The operating profits were at the high end of analyst predictions, and helped send shares higher in early trading.

It was the third straight half of solid earnings for BAE, which saw its shares battered almost two years ago after a series of cost overruns and delays on two high-profile contracts for the UK defence ministry led to surprise write-downs. In a conference call with reporters, Mike Turner, BAE’s chief executive, emphasised that the company had posted no new exceptional charges.