BAE shares dive as UAE pulls out of £6bn Typhoon deal

David Cameron's efforts to sell a multi-billion-pound contract for the United Arab Emirates to buy British- built fighter jets failed last night as the Gulf state pulled out of talks. (GETTY IMAGES)

BAE Systems shares declined more than 4 per cent in early trade today as investors got their first chance to react to its bad news about two major Middle East jet fighter contracts last night.

The United Arab Emirates pulled out of multi-billion pound talks yesterday to buy 60 Typhoon fighter jets from the British defence giant, even though David Cameron had lobbied for the deal in a visit to the Gulf last month.

Other talks over a long-term contract with Saudi Arabia have also stalled, BAE said.

The UAE contract could have been worth between £6bn and £10bn, according to analysts, while failure to resolve the Saudi contract could hit this year’s earnings by 6p to 7p a share, the company said.

BAE shares dropped 21.4p to 420.6p.

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