ManTech earnings increase propelled by C4ISR work

ManTech International Inc. escaped the worst of the general economic downturn in the second quarter 2011, reporting $752.7 million in revenue, up 14 percent from the $661.6 million reported in the second quarter of 2010.

The company reported an 8 percent organic growth for the quarter, driven primarily by command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) and systems engineering programs, according to the company’s July 27 second-quarter earnings report.

Net income for the quarter was $36.4 million, up 13 percent from $32.2 million in the second quarter of 2010, driven by strong operating performance as well as the gain from the company's equity interest in NetWitness, a network security product provider spun-out of ManTech in 2006 and sold to EMC Corp. in April.

Operating income for the quarter was $59.2 million (7.9 percent of revenue), up 5 percent from $56.5 million (8.5 percent of revenue) in the same quarter a year ago.

The growth in operating income was limited by a one-time $2 million adjustment from lower share-based compensation expense in the second quarter of 2010, the earnings statement said.

Contract awards totaled $186 million in the quarter, representing a book-to-bill ratio of 0.2. Backlog at the end of quarter was $4.1 billion, of which $1.5 billion was funded, the statement said.

Compared to the second quarter of 2010, total backlog decreased 8 percent but funded backlog increased 14 percent.

ManTech said contract awards and backlog were limited by delays in the federal government appropriation process.

However, since final resolution of the 2011 fiscal year appropriation in April, government customers have increased the volume of proposal requests significantly, which should lead to substantial award activity in the third and fourth quarters, the company predicted.

"Even after paying our first-ever dividend of $15.4 million, we increased our cash position by more than $130 million to a total of $207 million and have ample financial resources and flexibility to grow ManTech aggressively,” said ManTech Chairman and Chief Executive Officer George J. Pedersen, in the statement.

“Despite the pressures on federal government spending, we see continued strong performance based on our positioning on mission-critical programs in national security and homeland defense, both in the United States and around the world," he added

ManTech International Corp., of Fairfax, Va., ranks No. 22 on Washington Technology’s 2011 Top 100 list of the largest federal government contractors.