Northrop Grumman reports fourth-quarter earnings

Northrop Grumman Corporation Jan. 30 reported 2001 fourth-quarter economic earnings of $158 million, compared to $106 million for the same period of 2000. On a per share basis, the company reported 2001 fourth-quarter economic earnings of $1.55 on average diluted shares outstanding of 98 million, compared with economic earnings of $1.46 on average diluted shares outstanding of 72.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2000.

Under generally accepted accounting principles, the company reported fourth quarter 2001 net income of $131 million, or $1.28 per share, compared to net income from continuing operations of $144 million, or $1.99 per share, for the same period of 2000. The decline reflects a substantial decrease in pension income and increases in interest expense and in the number of shares outstanding.

For the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2001, sales jumped to $4.3 billion compared to $2.2 billion reported for the fourth quarter of 2000. The increase is mostly due to the contributions of three companies ac-quired in 2001: Litton Industries Inc., Newport News Shipbuilding and the Electronics and Information Systems group of Aerojet-General Cor-poration.

Also contributing to the sales increase was strong organic growth at the company's Electronic Systems sector.

Northrop Grumman's operating margin for the 2001 fourth quarter increased 25 percent to $314 million from $252 million for the same period last year despite a sharp drop in pension income. That declined to $88 million from $128 million reported for the last three months of 2000.

"Today's outstanding results validate our strategy to create a top-tier defense enterprise focused on our customers' cur-rent and future needs," said Kent Kresa, chairman and chief executive officer of Northrop Grumman, in a press release. "Last year's strategic acquisitions which added some $8 billion in annualized revenues provided new core competencies and established a solid foundation for future growth."

Kresa added, "Looking ahead, we ex-pect to focus on next-generation war fighting capabilities C4ISR, precision strike, unmanned aerial vehicles and all classes of naval vessels and emerging initiatives such as missile defense and homeland security. Northrop Grum-man's future is certainly bright for double-digit revenue and economic earnings growth in 2003, Kresa said.