spacetoday.net: Lockheed reports higher space revenues and profit

Posted: Wed, Apr 23, 2008, 8:31 AM ET (1231 GMT)

Lockheed Martin reported an increase in revenues and profit for its space division in the first quarter of 2008. The company's Space Systems unit reported net sales of $1.883 billion in the first quarter of 2008, compared to $1.794 billion for the same quarter of 2007. The unit had an operating profit of $231 million in the quarter, up nearly 25% from the $185 million reported in the first quarter of 2007. The company attributed the increase in revenue to larger volume on its work developing the Orion spacecraft for NASA. The increase in profit was credited to "higher equity earnings" from United Launch Alliance, its launch vehicle joint venture with Boeing, as well as "the results from successful negotiations of a terminated commercial launch services contract", thought to be a reference to a canceled Atlas 5 launch contract with Inmarsat. Lockheed overall had net sales of nearly $10 billion in the quarter, with an operating profit of $1.178 billion.