Northrop

A 52-year-old Annapolis man was charged with possessing child pornography yesterday in a federal indictment that culminated an FBI online sting operation investigating sex crimes against children.The case against Jeffrey D. Hooper of the 1800 block of Manor Green Court was based on an undercover federal agent's Internet conversations with him and the seizure of an extensive collection of child pornography videotapes and computer images from Hooper's home last month, according to court records.

LOS ANGELES -- Northrop Grumman Corp. reported yesterday that first-quarter earnings were little changed, topping analysts' forecasts, as the No. 5 U.S. defense contractor got a bigger-than-expected boost from investment income.Profit from operations notched down to $104 million, or $1.50 a share, from $105 million, or $1.52, a year earlier. The results beat the $1.33 average estimate of analysts polled by First Call Corp. Sales rose 4.2 percent to $2.1 billion from $2.01 billion.It was the second consecutive quarter of lower profit for Northrop.

LOS ANGELES -- Northrop Grumman Corp., the sixth-largest U.S. aerospace and defense company, said yesterday that its profit tumbled 85 percent in the fourth quarter as it took charges to account for expected cuts in production rates.Net income fell to $17 million, or 24 cents a share, from $117 million, or $1.71, in the fourth quarter of 1997. The results included charges of $1.18 cents per share, disclosed last month, mostly covering cuts in Boeing Co.'s jetliner output. Northrop supplies parts to almost every Boeing jet.Sales were unchanged at $2.5 billion.

LOS ANGELES -- Northrop Grumman Corp., the sixth largest U.S. defense contractor, was sued yesterday by a shareholder who said executives artificially inflated its share price by hiding news that Lockheed Martin Corp.'s acquisition of Northrop wouldn't be completed.The suit, filed in state court in Los Angeles, claims Northrop officials made misleading statements about the U.S. government's antitrust objections to Lockheed's $10.7 billion purchase of the maker of B-2 bomber.That propped up Northrop's stock while insiders sold more than $10 million in shares in a month, the suit claims.

THIS MONTH Lockheed Martin Corp. called off its merger deal with Northrop Grumman in the face of opposition from the Defense Department and government antitrust officials, which felt the combination would seriously limit competition.While Lockheed is an undisputed giant, the collapse of the deal raised questions about the future of the much smaller Northrop, whose Electronic Sensors & Systems Division is in Linthicum. What is the next move for Northrop? Will it pursue other acquisitions or mergers?

Britain's General Electric Co. PLC said yesterday that it made an informal offer to buy the defense electronics businesses that Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. might sell to win U.S. antitrust approval for their merger.The defense electronics maker told the companies that it's interested in buying Northrop's defense units that make airborne early warning radar and missile countermeasures, a GEC spokesman said."We're standing by to become involved in discussions as and when any opportunities arise," said Ben Brewerton, the GEC spokesman.

Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. were barred by a federal judge in Washington yesterday from seeing key documents in the government's antitrust challenge to the companies' proposed $11.18 billion combination.The surprising ruling threatens the transaction, analysts said, and increases prospects that the companies will seek a settlement.However, some said the divestitures the Justice Department is demanding could prompt the defense contracting giants to abandon their proposed union altogether.

OPF-ERA acquires ERA-Personal TouchO'Conor, Piper & Flynn-ERA, in its first acquisition since being acquired by NRT Inc., announced that it has acquired ERA-Personal Touch, located in Linthicum.The ERA-Personal Touch office was managed by Susan Rosko, who has owned and operated the firm since 1986. In 1997, she produced transactions totaling more than $10 million.Coldwell Banker fetes Elaine NorthropElaine Northrop of Coldwell Banker Grempler Realty Inc. was selected as the 1997 No. 1 sales associate for gross volume sales for the company's Northeastern Region.

Maybe it's the side porch, or the house's Southern style.Maybe it's that Felicia Northrop -- whose friends call her Martha Stewart Jr. -- loves to entertain.Whatever it is, something makes the Northrops' Fox Valley home in West Friendship warm and inviting, and some nights when Felicia's husband, Creig, comes home from work, he greets a few neighbors and their children before he finds his own -- Victoria, 4, and Jake, 2."I wanted people to feel like they could always come in -- there would always be a pitcher of ice tea or a pot of coffee or something -- and just feel real welcome," said Felicia, 28, who insisted that they include a side door off the kitchen.

Elaine Northrop ranks among top 1% of agentsElaine Northrop of the Ellicott City/Howard County office of Coldwell Banker Grempler Realty Inc. has been chosen as one of the International President's Elite, an honor reserved for the top 1 percent of Coldwell Banker's 55,000 North American sales associates.Northrop has averaged $32 million in sales for the past three years and has sold at least $20 million worth of homes each year since 1991.The No. 1 Coldwell Banker agent in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, Northrop was also the top seller among all real estate agents in Maryland.

In 1993, Defense Secretary Les Aspin invited more than a dozen CEOs of big weapons and aerospace companies to dinner at the Pentagon. In what has become known as the Last Supper, he shocked them by saying that, with the end of the Cold War, America had too many defense contractors and that the companies needed to merge or die. Merge they did. But 15 years later, as the fiasco with the Air Force's tanker contract and widespread Pentagon procurement dysfunction...

In a high-stakes rivalry pitting two of the world's largest defense contractors, Northrop Grumman Corp. gambled and won. The word came down Feb. 29 from the U.S. Air Force that a contract worth up to $40 billion for aerial refueling tankers would go to Northrop and its partner, Airbus, a unit of Netherlands-based European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. Shut out was rival Boeing Co., which thought it had a winner. It was a decision likened to last month's stunning Super Bowl loss by the heavily favored New England Patriots, with the favorite losing a cliffhanger.

NEW YORK -- Northrop Grumman Corp., the second-largest provider of computer services to the federal government, will close its Greenbelt-based computer-resale unit, which employs 365 people. Northrop said Jan. 24 that it intended to "exit" the business, either by selling the unit or closing it. At the time Chief Executive Officer Ronald Sugar said the business was "no longer a strategic fit" for Northrop. The Los Angeles-based company received offers from as many five other companies to buy the business but felt a sale would take too long, company spokeswoman Juli Ballesteros said yesterday.

Sitting on the floor in Westminster's library among a group of children from the Head Start program, Leah Kozoidek listened to the rhymes in the book Little One, Little One, What Do You See? She eagerly answered questions about the animals in the story and counted along with her classmates. At the end of the reading, Leah, 4, and nearly 40 other children in Carroll County Head Start received their own copy of the book - personalized with their name on the title page and throughout the story.

REDONDO BEACH, Calif. - Shareholders of Northrop Grumman Corp., the world's largest builder of warships, overwhelmingly approved yesterday the company's proposal to elect directors annually to improve the board's accountability. Annual director elections won support from holders representing 318 million shares, or about 89 percent of shares outstanding, Northrop said. Northrop's directors are now divided into three classes and elected to staggered three-year terms. The directors will be elected to one-year terms after the three-year terms of each class expire in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

McLEAN, Va. - Northrop Grumman Corp. plans to bid on a seven-year contract to manage Los Alamos National Laboratory, a Department of Energy facility now run by the University of California. The contract is worth about $2.2 billion a year and has extension options that could add 13 years to the management deal, putting the total value at about $44 billion over a 20-year period, the Los Angeles-based aerospace and defense company said yesterday. Northrop, with $29.85 billion in sales for 2005, said it has experience with many of the scientific areas under research at Los Alamos.

Tomorrow evening's college soccer doubleheader to benefit two Howard County-based cancer funds has been moved to Northrop Fields at Covenant Park, off Centennial Lane near Centennial Park, from Reservoir High School's stadium. Louise Waxler, director of the KICKS Against Breast Cancer Fund, said the two games had to be moved to Covenant Park's synthetic turf because of the already-soaked stadium field and the prospect of more rain. The games, as well as the full day of other college games at Covenant Park, also benefit the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults.

Northrop Grumman Corp., the world's largest builder of warships, has had "significant cost growth" and schedule delays in building its share of the Navy's newest nuclear submarines, the service's top acquisition official said yesterday. There has been "rapid deterioration" in the company's performance since January, Assistant Secretary for Acquisition John J. Young wrote Northrop Chairman Ronald Sugar in an Aug. 6 letter obtained by Bloomberg News. The cost to build the first four submarines has risen by $419.

LOS ANGELES - Northrop Grumman Corp., the world's largest builder of warships, said yesterday that its second-quarter profit rose 44 percent as it increased work on the U.S. Navy's newest destroyer and boosted sales of missile-defense systems and unmanned spy planes. The company also raised its full-year forecast. Net income rose to $295 million, or 81 cents a share, from $205 million, or 54 cents, a year earlier, Northrop said. Sales climbed 11 percent to $7.37 billion, the 14th straight quarter of double-digit sales growth.

THE AFTERGLOW of last weekend's debut of the Soccer Association of Columbia-Howard County's new Covenant Park fields took a significant financial twist the day after tournament play ended. Dave Procida, the club's president, announced that directors had approved on Tuesday night the largest sponsorship in club history. Creig Northrop & The Northrop Team, a Clarksville-based real estate business, will pay $375,000 over seven years for participation in Covenant Park, Procida said. In exchange, the club will alter the name of the complex, with the entrance sign on Centennial Lane to read "Northrop Fields at Covenant Park."