Posted: Fri, Oct 31, 2003, 11:25 AM ET (1625 GMT)
Boeing announced this week a strong increase in revenues for its launch vehicle and satellite unit, although that division still recorded a loss in the third quarter. Boeing reported revenues of $959 million for Launch and Orbital Systems, part of Integrated Defense Systems, in the third quarter of 2003. That was 37 percent higher than the $700 million recorded by the unit in the same quarter of 2002; the company credited Delta 4 work and higher satellite sales for the gain. However, the unit recorded a loss of $58 million for the quarter, primarily because of work on the Delta 4 Heavy demonstration flight, scheduled for next year, as well as cost growth on commercial satellite programs. The unit recorded a $113-million loss in the same quarter of 2002, but $100 million of that was a one-time writeoff of an investment the company made into Teledesic. For the year, though, the Launch and Orbital Systems unit has a loss of $1.66 billion because of charges the company took in the second quarter when it took the Delta 4 off the commercial launch market. Boeing CEO Phil Condit said Wednesday that the company planned to continue efforts to make sure the "satellite and launch business is in fact sized to the market."

Related Links:

•  Reuters article
•  Boeing press release