maintenance business of the Defence Support Group, an executive agency and trading fund of the Ministry of Defence. The sale and transfer to Babcock was completed on 1 April 2015. Throughout the 2010s, the company secured numerous naval contracts. In May 2012, Babcock was awarded a £15m contract by the Ministry of Defence to support the design of the United Kingdom's next generation nuclear-armed submarines. In August 2014, Babcock issued a statement declaring that there would be job losses at HMNB Clyde if Scotland were to vote in favour of independence in the 2014 Referendum. In October 2014, both Babcock and BAE Systems won contracts from the Ministry of Defence worth a total of £3.2 billion to maintain British warships, submarines and naval bases for the following five years. In December 2014, the UK Ministry of Defence alienated the non-aerospace assets of the Defence Support Group to Babcock. In September 2019, it was announced that Babcock had been selected as the preferred bidder to build the new fleet of five Type 31 frigates for the Royal Navy. During 2018 and 2019, Babcock International rebuffed multiple unsolicited advances by public services provider Serco to merge the two businesses together. Merger proposals had been unanimously rejected by Babcock's board, having reportedly found the proposal to lack strategic merit. Reportedly, Rupert Soames, Serco's Chief Executive, remained interested in aligning his company's defence operations with Babcock's own divisions. At multiple occasions in 2019 and early 2020, Babcock issued profit warnings, which the firm attributed to a downturn in government orders and issues with its aviation division, necessitating a £85m writedown on leases for its North Sea helicopter fleet. During February 2020, it was reported that the company was considering exiting the off-shore helicopter sector amid intense competition; Babcock had already reduced its Sikorsky S-92 and Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma fleets from 15 to seven helicopters and 13 to one helicopters respectively. The firm's decision to downsize its S-92 inventory caused manufacturer Sikorsky to sue Babcock over its refusal to accept delivery of units ordered in 2011. In April 2021, as part of a wide-ranging restructuring program, Babcock announced that it would be selling off a number of its business lines, resulting in 1,000 job losses (850 of which will be in the UK); as part of this, the firm will sell its oil and gas aviation transport arm to CHC Group. Operations The company