Lockheed Net Up 11% in Quarter

Lockheed earned $69 million on sales of $2.3 billion in the first quarter, an 11% gain over the $62 million earned last year on sales of $2.1 billion, the company announced Thursday.

Also on Thursday, Lockheed Chairman Daniel M. Tellep branded as “pure harassment” a lawsuit filed the day before by Texas investor Harold C. Simmons seeking to invalidate the results of Lockheed’s recent corporate election. Simmons’ group launched the proxy fight for control of Lockheed but was defeated by the current management team, led by Tellep.

“We are extremely disappointed that Simmons has chosen to ignore the independently certified results despite losing the election by over a 20% margin,” Tellep said in a statement.

Lockheed said its increased sales were generated across the company and that its aeronautical and technology services segments showed improvements. Overall profit from programs was the same as last year, but provisions for income taxes were lower.

Funded backlog was $7.7 billion on March 25, up from $7.1 billion at the end of 1989.