spacetoday.net: Lockheed Martin reports flat space earnings

Posted: Mon, Oct 28, 2002, 7:50 AM ET (1250 GMT)
Lockheed Martin reported relatively flat revenues and earnings for its space systems division on Friday. In the fiscal third quarter the company's space systems division reported net sales of $1.85 billion and earnings of $126 million, essentially unchanged from the year before. The 2002 year-to-date net sales of $5.5 billion and adjusted earnings of $370 million were about 10 percent higher from the first nine months of 2001. The company attributed the increase in net sales in 2002 to increased commercial and government sales of launch vehicles and satellites. The company warned, though, that commercial space earnings fell quarter-by-quarter because of decreased profitability of the launches it conducted in 2002 versus 2001, and noted there is "continuing deterioration of pricing" in the commercial launch market.