Booz Allen reports sales, profit boosts

In Booz Allen Hamilton’s fiscal year 2016, which ended March 31, the company saw sales rise nearly 3 percent from the prior year to hit $5.4 billion.

Profit increased about 26 percent to reach $294 million.

“Without a doubt, FY-16 was a turning point in that our revenue began to grow after three years of contraction,” Horacio Rozanski, Booz Allen’s chief executive, said during a Wednesday call with analysts.

He said the contractor has sought to increase the technical content of its work and move closer to its customers, ensuring it’s managing projects important to government agencies.

“The market out there is still very uncertain. We’re heading into an election cycle,” Rozanski said. “But our clients have gotten particularly adroit at making sure the key priorities in their mission get funded first.”

Booz Allen also noted that its backlog hit $11.8 billion, up from $9.4 billion at the same time last year. “The majority of the growth is in priced options,” the company said. “The improvement in total backlog was due to greater investments in bid and proposal activity in a more stable government contracting environment.”