Force Protection's bottom line gets a lift
Military demand for bomb-resistant armored trucks boosts profit
By Christopher Hinton, MarketWatch
Last Update: 2:39 PM ET Aug 10, 2007
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Shares of Force Protection Inc. got a lift Friday after better-than-expected financial results for the second quarter showed increased demand for its heavily armored trucks used in military settings.
During the June quarter, the Ladson, S.C., company (FRPT : force protection inc com new
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Last: 15.46+1.08+7.50%
2:54pm 08/10/2007
FRPT15.46, +1.08, +7.5%) said it sold 17 of its Buffalo series armored truck -- a behemoth weighing 20.6 metric tons that's currently being used in Iraq to protect troops from roadside bombs and missile attacks.
The company also sold 212 of its medium-size Cougar trucks, used from troop transportation and command and control.
Altogether, the company said it produced 229 vehicles in the recent quarter, compared to the 285 produced for all of 2006.
The U.S. military has said it wants to purchase thousands of these trucks -- better known as MRAP, or mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles -- to use in place of the more vulnerable Humvee. Recently, the Defense Department requested the transfer of $1.2 billion in existing funds for an additional 2,650 MRAP vehicles, bringing the total size of its order to 6,415. Force Protection is in a joint-venture partnership with General Dynamics Corp. (GD : General Dynamics Corporation
to help increase production to meet the government's demands.
The venture has helped secure several new contracts, Chief Executive Gordon McGilton said. "During the quarter, we announced that we had been awarded contracts totaling $711 million to produce 1,455 vehicles for the U.S Marine Corps' (MRAP) vehicle program," he said.
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