Lockheed Martin hangs on to profits with civilian agency help

Lockheed Martin Corp.’s profits in its IT solutions segment increased slightly in the third quarter in 2010 compared with last year, earning the increase through new civilian agency services and trimming costs across the company, the company reported today.

However, company executives foresee a coming decrease in revenue from Information Systems and Global Solutions (IS&GS) sector in 2011 as the corporation finishes work on a contract for the 2010 census.

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For 2010’s third quarter, Lockheed overall posted $11.4 billion net sales, a 6 percent in increase in corporate sales growth over $10.8 billion in 2009. Earnings from continuing operations for the third quarter of 2010 were $565 million, compared with $786 million last year, the company reported.

The corporation has taken several steps to trim its costs, the company said.

“We had another solid quarter during which we finalized several actions to improve affordability,” said Robert Stevens, chairman and CEO.

Lockheed has entered an agreement to sell Enterprise Integration Group to Veritas Capital. And last month, the company had 600 executives take buyouts. The 600 executives represent about 25 percent of Lockheed’s executive ranks. The reduction aligns with a decline of 10,000 employees since the beginning of 2009, the company said.

As for IS&GS, its operating profits increased by 2 percent for the quarter, which ended Sept. 26, compared with the same period in 2009. Profits rose from $212 million in 2009 to $217 million in 2010. The profits increased among civilian agencies because of enterprise services, while profits declined in defense and intelligence areas. Defense work decreased mainly because of a lower level of favorable performance adjustments on mission and combat systems activities. In the intelligence field, IS&GS had a lower volume and performance on security solutions, the company reported.

Net sales for IS&GS increased by 7 percent for the quarter from 2009. Sales rose from $2.3 billion in 2009’s third quarter to $2.5 billion in 2010. Sales increased in civil and defense areas, but declined in intelligence arena.