BAE chairman dodges protest vote over failed EADS deal "There was a window of opportunity and that window is closed, for now at least," he said. In a first-quarter trading update, BAE told shareholders that it expected to see "modest growth" in earnings this year despite the "continuing uncertainties relating to US defence budgets." BAE said there was still "insufficient detail" over the impact of "sequestration" - where the US defence budget is automatically cut by law in order to reduce the deficit - or the call from President Barack Obama to replace sequestration next year "with selective spending cuts." The defence group added there were ongoing uncertainties over talks with Saudi Arabia to raise the prices for the Salam Typhoon fighter jet programme. BAE struck a deal in 2007 to sell 74 fighter jets to the Saudis, with clauses in the contract to allow the multi-billion pound deal to be renegotiated to reflect current costs. So far 24 jets have been delivered. Mr King added: "We continue to pursue growth in our international markets and have built on the strong international order intake in 2012 with a further £2.3bn of non UK/US orders received in the year to date." Ben Fidler, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, said that, "as with many defence companies, the future for BAE is going to be about managing cost reductions in the face of defence cuts." BAE shares rose 7.4 to 382.1p.