DEFENCE giant BAE Systems is expected to unveil annual profits exceeding £1bn this morning, but Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable pre-empted the announcement yesterday by condemning the trading figures as fundamentally compromised.

DEFENCE giant BAE Systems is expected to unveil annual profits exceeding £1bn this morning, but Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable pre-empted the announcement yesterday by condemning the trading figures as fundamentally compromised.

Cable was commenting in the wake of Attorney-General Lord Goldsmith's highly controversial decision to halt a corruption inquiry into the £6bn BAE deal for Eurofighter jets with Saudi Arabia. He has since written to FTSE-100 chairmen asking for their views on how badly this has damaged the credibility of British business.

"This profit announcement reflects an utterly artificial position," Cable said yesterday. "The company's profits depend on major, UK government supported, export contracts around which there are unresolved allegations of corrupt commission pay-outs and pending prosecutions, or on favoured contracts for government procurement."

BAE has scrapped its traditional results press conference, a move thought to be unprecedented for a FTSE-100 company.

BAE has reportedly blamed "time pressures", but the decision was interpreted as having been spurred by a reluctance to comment on its role in alleged bribery scandals.

The SFO is still investigating bribery allegations surrounding various BAE arms contracts.