Whittaker Corp., the defense electronics, chemicals, metals...

Whittaker Corp., the defense electronics, chemicals, metals and medical conglomerate, reported that its first-quarter profit was off 84%. Whittaker’s chairman and chief executive, Joseph Alibrandi, said the biggest setback came in the company’s life sciences unit, which had $5.9 million in start-up costs in the first quarter for its fledgling health maintenance organization operation, compared to $1.3 million a year earlier.