ATK Reaffirms FY08-FY09 Guidance Following Air Force Action on LUU-19 Flare Program
MINNEAPOLIS, Feb. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK) has been notified by the Department of the Air Force that the Launch Systems Group has temporarily been placed on the Excluded Parties List, which could result in limitations being temporarily placed on the group's ability to be awarded new contracts. The action is related to a previously disclosed, ongoing lawsuit regarding LUU-19 illumination flare performance testing in the late 1990's by then Thiokol Corporation. The company believes this action is unjustified and will have no material affect to its near or long term financial performance. This assumption is based on the conclusions of internal and external counsel who have thoroughly reviewed the action.
Existing contracts are not affected by the action. The Department of the Air Force decision is limited in scope to the Launch Systems Group only.
Consequently, the company is reaffirming the FY08 and FY09 sales, earnings per share and free cash flow guidance it established on January 31.
The company fully intends to resolve this administrative action through discussions with appropriate U.S. Air Force officials.
ATK believes that the original lawsuit and its allegations are without merit. More than 40,000 of the illumination flares in question have been used in combat and all information available to us indicates that there has never been a reported incident of a malfunction. The company has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in Federal court. Based on the merits of the case, the company believes the court will rule in its favor.
ATK is an advanced weapon and space systems company with annual revenues in excess of $4.1 billion that employs approximately 17,000 people in 21 states. News and information can be found on the Internet at http://www.atk.com/.
Certain information discussed in this press release constitutes forward- looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although ATK believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be achieved. Forward-looking information is subject to certain risks, trends, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Among these factors are: assumptions relating to the resolution of pending litigation; delays in NASA's human-rated launch programs; changes in governmental spending, budgetary policies and product sourcing strategies; the company's competitive environment; risks inherent in the development and manufacture of advanced technology; increases in commodity costs, energy prices, and production costs; the terms and timing of awards and contracts; program performance; program terminations; changes in cost estimates related to relocation of facilities; the outcome of contingencies, including litigation and environmental remediation; actual pension asset returns and assumptions regarding future returns, discount rates and service costs; the availability of capital market financing; changes to accounting standards; changes in tax rules or pronouncements; economic conditions; and the company's capital deployment strategy, including debt repayment, share repurchases, pension funding, mergers and acquisitions and any integration thereof. ATK undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. For further information on factors that could impact ATK, and statements contained herein, please refer to ATK's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Media Contact: Investor Contact: Bryce Hallowell Steve Wold Phone: 952-351-3087 Phone: 952-351-3056 E-mail: bryce.hallowell@atk.com E-mail: steve.wold@atk.com
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