IDS helps propel Boeing gain in '04
Company saw revenue grow by $2B over 2003

Friday, February 04, 2005

From staff reports
Huntsville Times

Boeing Co., which employs about 3,300 people at its Huntsville and Decatur plants, reported its sales and earnings were better last year than in 2003.

The space and defense contractor reported its Integrated Defense Systems business, which does much of its work in Huntsville, had $30 billion in orders in 2004. The IDS business saw its revenues grow by double digits, including a $6 billion expansion of its future combat systems contract. The future combat system employs about 100 people in Huntsville.

Boeing also reported it has installed eight ground-based midcourse defense missiles as part of a layered, ground-based system to defend against an intercontinental ballistic missile attack.

The company had 2004 revenue of $52.4 billion, up from $50.2 billion in 2003, and its net income was $2.30 per share. In 2003 the company had net income of 89 cents per share.

Peri Widener, Boeing's senior Integrated Defense Systems executive in Alabama, said the company had a good year in 2004 and was poised for growth in 2005. Widener said the opportunity for growth exists even in a "difficult budget environment" that is widely expected to result in broad cuts aimed at reducing the federal budget deficit.

Boeing announced in mid-January it was cutting about 100 jobs from its Decatur Launch Vehicle Facility, in its Delta IV program. The cuts followed the U.S. Air Force's decision in July 2003 to strip Boeing of about $1 billion worth of satellite launch work, following Boeing's admission company employees took documents from rival Lockheed Martin.

Widener said she expects employment at the Huntsville/Decatur operations to be stable in 2005.