Posted: Thu, Apr 24, 2003, 7:16 AM ET (1116 GMT)
The Boeing Company's space unit reported Wednesday a net loss for the fiscal first quarter of 2003. The Launch and Orbital Systems division of Boeing's Integrated Defense Systems unit reported a loss of $21 million, before one-time charges, for the quarter on revenue of $658 million. This compares to a $50 million loss on $746 million of revenue for the first quarter of 2002. The total loss for the space unit in the quarter is $593 million because of a $572 million goodwill impairment, or writeoff, announced earlier this month. Although the commercial launch and satellite market is still soft, the company said that government sales are helping offset declines in commercial revenue. In a conference call with financial analysts, Boeing executives said they expect Launch and Orbital Systems to break even for the year, but declined to estimate in what quarter the unit would record a profit.

Related Links:

•  Boeing press release
•  Space News article (subscription required)
•  AP article
•  Reuters article