15 Sep 05. Thales reported Sept. 15 a first-half net profit of €170m ($208.8m), compared with €171m a year earlier, on sales of €4.75bn, up 4 percent.
New orders totalled €4.3bn, up from €4.05bn euros a year earlier. Thales also said Sept. 15 that Taiwan had doubled the amount it was claiming in a lawsuit against the company. The country now is seeking $1.12 billion from Thales over the 1991 sale of French frigates at the center of a long-running corruption scandal. On first-half results, Thales returned to strong growth in new orders, with contracts signed on the British Watchkeeper battlefield drone deal, worth €900m; orders expected to be signed on the Scorpene submarine sale to India, worth €600m; and a first batch of eight FREMM multimission frigates for France. Full-year 2005 sales could rise to €12bn or possibly more, Ranque said. Thales had 2004 sales of €10.3bn. Serge Dassault still plans to sell his stake in defense systems company Thales, Dassault Aviation Executive Chairman Charles Edelstenne said Sept. 15, and the sale likely will be made in the next few months. Serge Dassault said in March that his family company, Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault, which owns 5.7 percent of Thales, intended to divest the holding. (Source: Defense News)
12 Sep 05. The electronic technologies unit within Heico Corp. has paid cash for 85 percent of the stock of HVT Group, a company that makes very high-voltage interconnection devices and cable assemblies for medical equipment, defense and other industrial markets. Hollywood-based Heico (NYSE: HEIA and NYSE: HEI) did not say how much it paid for the stake in Chelmsford, Mass.-based HVT. Heico did say HTV management continues to own the remaining 15 percent of HTV stock.
08 Sep 05. Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT – News) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Coherent Technologies, Inc., a renowned supplier of high- performance, laser-based remote sensing systems. Headquartered in Louisville, Colo., Coherent Technologies is a well-recognized provider of sensor solutions and laser radar technology development. The company performs research, product development, and systems integration for products designed to maintain continuous, real-time operations in demanding environments and provide critical information regarding target identification and hazardous meteorological events.
07 Sep 05. Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT – News) will be joined by a formidable team of major defense and information technology companies to compete for the $20 billion U.S. Army’s IT Enterprise Solutions-2 Services (ITES-2S) contracting vehicle. Accompanied by teammates CACI International Inc., ManTech International Corp., SRA International, Inc., PriceWaterhouseCoopers and others, Lockheed Martin hopes to earn one of the contracts the Army will establish for large companies under its new Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) vehicle.
08 Sep 05. Northrop Grumman Corp. said after Thursday’s closing bell that it expects the work delays stemming from Hurricane Katrina to negatively impact its 2005 financial results by 6 cents to 12 cents a share. The defense contractor said the storm will affect the near-term operations and financial results of its ship systems sector, and it expects 2005 sector revenue to come in below its previous forecast of $950 million. The company said it does not believe that its 2006 financial forecast will be affected by the hurricane. Although it does not yet have a property damage estimate from the storm, Northrop expects that its insurance will cover most of the cost. The company plans to restart some shipbuilding activity at its facilities in New Orleans, Pascagoula, Miss. and Gulfport, Miss. in September.
09 Sep 05. US engineering group Parker Hannifin Corp, which is in a bid battle with Eaton Corp for control of Dominick Hunter Group PLC, said it now has acceptances of its offer from 14.8 pct of the UK filtration equipment group