Defense industry analyst, Loren Thompson, in an April 7 Press Register story, questioned whether Northrop Grumman Corp.'s recent focus on profit margin will lead it to get out of the shipbuilding industry and sell its Pascagoula shipyard. That's not necessarily bad news for the 12,000 workers in the former Ingalls Shipbuilding yard, according to the Washington D.C.-based analyst. Northrop shipbuilding division's profit margin was 4.8 percent, compared with 10.3 percent for aerospace, 12.6 percent for electronic systems and 7.3 percent for information systems.
(Source: www.al.com)