BAE Systems have reported strong profits of £19.5 billion in its financial results for 2021 and have defied the current market trend with a share price increase of 1.93% to 612.4p.

The profit marks a £0.3 billion bump up in profit from the company’s financial results in 2020.

The UK’s biggest defence contractor further reported basic earnings per share of 55.2p against results of 40.7p in 2020.

BAE Systems also reported a sales increase of £21.3 billion against 2020 sales of £20.8 billion.

The company mentioned that its growth for 2022 was projected to stem from electronic systems, air, maritime and cyber and intelligence segments, with BAE System’s Platforms & Services (US) estimated to remain stable.

“Our strong results reflect the outstanding efforts of our employees who have continued to adapt and work closely with our customers, suppliers and trades unions to deliver capabilities which keep nations and citizens safe,” said BAE Systems CEO Charles Woodburn.

“We are continuing to evolve our business, increasing our investments in advanced technologies to deliver differentiated solutions to meet our customers’ priorities.”

“Our diverse portfolio, together with our focus on programme execution, cash generation and efficiencies, is helping us to navigate the challenging operating environment, meaning we are well positioned for sustained top line and margin growth in the coming years.”

Evraz shares are trading down 30% at the time of writing as Russia launches a full scale invasion of Ukraine, sending troops into the country and launching rocket attacks on cities.

The flagrant disregard for Ukraine’s sovereignty by Putin has rocked European markets, in particular those with operations or links to Russia, including FTSE 100 Evraz.

The Evraz share price was down 30% on Thursday and has collapsed by 71% so far in 2022. Indeed, the company is trading more like a penny share than a FTSE 100 constituent. Such a sharp decline in Evraz shares will likely grab the attention of bargain hunters, but is now a good time to buy Evraz shares?

With such a high degree of uncertainty around the situation on the ground, and what impact sanctions will have on Russian businesses, considering taking a position in Russia-Exposed companies will be pursuit only for the brave.

“Investors hate uncertainty and whilst it’s inevitable that the west will respond to Russia’s aggression, what’s unclear right now is by what severity and how the situation could escalate further. As a result, investors are seeking asset protection and don’t want to take on any risk to their portfolios,” said Walid Koudmani, chief market analyst at financial brokerage XTB.

Evraz shares have suffered due their substantial steel-making operations across Russia. Of Evraz’s total Q4 crude steel production of 3,384,000 tonnes, 2,904,000 tonnes were produced in Russia.

The West is promising serve sanctions on Russia which will likely target their commodity exports which would ravage the ability of Evraz to export steel and destroy their revenue and prices achieved for their output. Steel could well be high on the West’s list of exports to targets as curbing their oil exports would harm their own economies as much as Russia’s.

One only has to look at what the West has done to the Iranian oil industry and economy with the implementation of sanctions.

Adventurous short-term traders may look to the Evraz share price for a ‘dead cat bounce’, but the longer term outlook for Evraz shares is highly uncertain and buying Evraz should be considered extremely high risk.

Lloyds Banks announced strong profits of £6.9 billion in its end of year results for 2021, however its results fell below analyst-predicted profits of £7.2 billion.

Lloyds’ share price has taken a major hit with the stock dropping 7.3% to 48.37 in the early morning, although the crisis in Ukraine would account for much of the drop.

Dividends have been reported at 2p per ordinary share and earnings per share at 7.5p, with a share buyback scheme of £2 billion reported by the bank.

Lloyds enjoyed a boost to underlying profit as a result of £1.2 billion in emergency reserves the bank allocated to help with pandemic-linked defaults on loans which were subsequently unneeded.

“In the context of continued business momentum and balance sheet growth, the Group has delivered a solid financial performance with statutory profit after tax of £5.9 billion, significantly higher than 2020,” said Lloyds Bank CEO Charlie Nunn.

“Increased profits benefitted from higher income and the net underlying impairment credit of £1.2 billion in 2021, driven by improvements to the macroeconomic outlook for the UK, combined with robust observed credit performance.”

“Underlying profit before impairment of £6.8 billion was up 6 per cent on 2020, with increased average interest-earning assets, a strengthened banking net interest margin and early signs of recovery in other income, alongside a reduction in operating lease depreciation.”

It was not entirely good news for the FTSE 100 company, however, as its financial results were significantly dented by fraud costs from the HBOS Reading sector.

The bank was forced to pay £1.3 billion pounds, alongside a charge of £600m for costs linked to fraud at its HBOS Reading branch.

“Remediation charges increased in the year to £1,300 million, with £775 million in the fourth quarter,” said Nunn.

“The full year remediation charges relate to a number of pre-existing legacy issues and include a £790 million charge relating to HBOS Reading which reflects the Group’s estimate of its full liability, albeit significant uncertainties remain.”

“We continue to support the independent Foskett Panel re-review and Dame Linda Dobbs’ independent review process as we work to bring this matter to a conclusion.”