[Satellite News 05-12-10] There were clear winners and losers in the U.S. space manufacturing industry during the first quarter of 2010, with Space Systems/Loral drastically outperforming rivals Boeing, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, which were struck hard by losses in aviation business.
    Boeing, which has lost billions of dollars in its expensive 787 Dreamliner passenger jet program, has seen its space sales decline as run-off of multi-year contracts exceeds additions to backlog and U.S. government and military space programs, such as TSAT, are being cut. Boeing’s Defense, Space and Security’s 2010 first-quarter revenues fell to $7.6 billion from $7.7 billion reported in 2009, with network and space systems revenue dropping $300 million to $2.3 billion due to lower volume in networked and tactical systems and strategic missile and defense systems. The backlog for its defense, space and security also fell, dropping $600 million from 2009 to $64.2 billion.
    The company said it had a less-than-favorable contract mix during the quarter, offset partially by higher earnings from United Launch Alliance.
    Lockheed Martin, which also benefited from an increase in activity on the ULA joint venture, saw its overall earnings for the 2010 first quarter fall from $666 million in 2009 to $547 million, with net sales for the company’s space systems division remaining unchanged.
    Lockheed Martin’s overall first quarter 2010 net sales were $10.6 billion, a 3 percent increase over $10.4 billion that the company generated in 2009. However, Lockheed delivered no commercial satellite during the first quarter of 2010 or 2009 and reported a sales decline in satellites, driven by lower volume in government satellite activities.
    Raytheon performed slightly better than its U.S. manufacturing rivals, booking $1.72 billion in new contracts during the 2010 first quarter, including $886 million on a contract to develop the next-generation GPS Advanced Control Segment (GPS-OCX) for the U.S. Air Force and $624 million on a number of classified contracts. However, Raytheon’s Intelligence and Information Systems division net sales slipped to $730 million compared to $784 million in the first quarter 2009 due to lower net sales on a classified program and an international advanced border control and security program and lower volume and increased requirements on an international program. 
        SS/L, boosted by a $1.4 billion backlog, reported revenues of $230.8 million, compared to $216.4 million in the first quarter of 2009, with adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $12.7 million, compared to $10.4 million for the first quarter of 2009.
SS/L recently signed a contract with Satmex to build Satmex-8, and SS/L also recently was awarded another contract to build a second high-power, advanced satellite for one of its long-standing customers. Details of that contract will be announced in the second quarter.
    Loral CEO Michael Targoff, who enjoyed growth in all of his company’s interests, including SS/L and Telesat, announced that Loral would have to raise money to continue supporting SS/L’s growth. “In order to further support the growth in SS/L’s business, we intend to pursue an initial public offering for the sale of up to 19.9 percent of SS/L. We are working with two leading investment banks in connection with the planned IPO and for the evaluation of other possible strategic alternatives,” Targoff said.