10 Jun 03. L-3 Communications (NYSE: LLL – News) has entered into an agreement to acquire the Military Aviation Services business of Bombardier, Inc. for approximately $90m. Military Aviation Services’ annual sales are approximately $80m. The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of 2003, and will be slightly accretive to the company’s earnings. Headquartered in Mirabel, Quebec, Canada and with facilities in Bridgeport, WV, Military Aviation Services is a leader in systems engineering support and avionics modernization. The businesses’ client base includes Canadian Armed Forces, the United States Department of Defense, prime contractors and OEM’s and international military organizations.
02 Jun 03. TTSC, The Tanker Team, said that Marshall Aerospace will convert the Rolls-Royce powered Boeing 767-300ERs from the British Airways fleet into air-to-air refuelling tankers.
30 May 03. Stewart & Stevenson Services, Inc. (NYSE: SVC – News), announced results for the fiscal first quarter ended May 3, 2003. Sales for the first quarter of 2003 were $289.8m compared to sales of $299.7m in the same period a year ago. Net earnings from continuing operations in the first quarter of 2003 before special charges were $4.5m or $0.16 per diluted share, compared to net earnings from continuing operations of $4.9m, or $0.17 per diluted share, in last year’s first quarter. Including the special charges, net earnings from continuing operations for the first quarter of fiscal 2003 totalled $1.7m or $0.06 per diluted share.
05 Jun 03. In partnership with a number of major defence contractors, SciSys, the UK-based, global IT services provider, has made significant inroads into the defence digitization arena, particularly for the Land Component Commander. SciSys is involved in four major competitive contract wins: The development of a Bowman training; a warning and reporting system for NBC (NBC BISA); a tactical targeting tool to digitize the Find and Delivery functions for Joint Effects Assets allocated to the Land Component Commander (JETTS) and a mobile engineering support system for the Royal Engineers (MAKEFAST BISA).
11 Jun 03. Meggitt Plc has privately placed $250m in debt with 10 U.S. institutions. The firm said in a statement that the proceeds from the placement would be used to retire bank debt and lengthen its debt maturity profile. Meggitt said the big chunk of $180m from the placement carried a 10-year term and a coupon of 5.36 percent, while the remaining was for 12 years and carried a coupon of 5.46 percent — a premium of 145 and 155 basis points respectively over benchmark 10-year U.S. treasury.
11 Jun 03. Radstone Technology PLC (“Radstone”, LSE:RST), announces its preliminary results for the year ended 31 March 2003.
Highlights : Profit before tax up 34% to £36.125m (2002: £34.575m); Sales up 18% to £348.494m (2002: £341.204m); Basic earnings per share up 36% to 17.98p (2002: 13.19p); Dividend increased to 2.0p (2002: 1.0p); Strong forward order book at £362.711m.
9 Jun 03. Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) agreed to settle a joint complaint filed by a former TRW Inc. employee and the U.S. Department of Justice under the qui tam provisions of the civil False Claims Act.The company said it will pay approximately $111m to settle claims that TRW, acquired by Northrop Grumman in December 2002, misclassified various costs and improperly charged those costs to certain of its federal contracts. The suits were originally filed under seal in 1994 and 1995 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
10 Jun 03. During the European Infantry Days exhibition, the major European companies involved as Prime Contractors in the Future Soldier System signed an agreement to establish a Soldier Systems Standardisation Industrial Working Group. The participants include: EADS Dornier for the German programme IDZ; Thales Optronique SA for the French GME FELI