Defence giant Babcock has revealed it took a £140 million hit for late-stage reworks to its newest Royal Navy warships. The London-listed company, which is a major contractor for the Ministry of Defence , told investors that its annual financial results had been impacted by the charge on its Type 31 contract. Under the contract, Babcock is set to deliver five frigates that are being built at its manufacturing site in Rosyth in Fife . The first and second ships took to the water for the first time during the past year after four years of construction. But Babcock said on Wednesday it had experienced “higher than expected levels of rework as a result of changes to the design” and that the work “is being performed in the later stages of completion, and therefore is more complex and more costly”. The third and fourth ships are still in early construction stages so will not be as affected by reworks as the first two, it said.…