Northrop Grumman

Maryland: Acquisitions NexCen closes deal for MaggieMoo's NexCen Brands Inc., a brand acquisition company, said yesterday that it has closed on a deal to buy ice cream shop companies MaggieMoo's International LLC and Marble Slab Creamery Inc. for $37.1 million. Columbia-based MaggieMoo's operates 184 stores in 36 states and Houston-based Marble Slab currently has 370 stores in 35 states, Canada and the United Arab Emirates. Meredith Cohn Earnings Laureate profit increases 29% Laureate Education Inc., the operator of online and foreign universities that's facing stockholder opposition to a proposed $3.2 billion buyout, said yesterday its profit rose 19 percent in the fourth quarter.

It's a worn brick building surrounded by a well-used playground and basketball courts where most of the hoops are missing nets. But inside the Robinwood Community Center, youths and other residents can find a top-of-the-line computer laboratory with 10 19-inch flat screens, wireless Internet, printers and a projector. Northrop Grumman, the defense contractor based in Linthicum, installed the new computer lab Friday as part of its renovation of the center in the Annapolis public housing neighborhood.

Shareholders of Essex Corp. approved yesterday the sale of the company to Northrop Grumman Corp. for $580 million - an unimaginable event eight years ago when the company verged on bankruptcy and the share price was quoted in cents rather than dollars. Wearing a blue dress shirt and a parrot dangling from a green Mardi Gras-style beaded necklace, Leonard E. Moodispaw, the company's unconventional chairman, chief executive officer and president, read aloud the formalities of the proxy vote to the 30 shareholders who attended the special meeting at the company's headquarters in Columbia.

JOHN R. GALVIN has appeared on a number of national news shows recently, including ABC's "Nightline" and National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," trumpeting the benefits NATO.On the shows, he was identified as dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University or as the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.But what the news shows haven't told us is that Galvin is also a member of the board of Raytheon Co., one of the nation's top three military contractors and corporate father of the Tomahawk Cruise missile, more than 160 of which have inflicted death and destruction on the former Yugoslavia.

From his office in Linthicum, George E. "Chip" Pickett Jr. can watch airplanes coming and going at nearby Baltimore-Washington International Airport. But he's always looking farther than that.The former Army intelligence officer is one of the defense industry's leading thinkers and strategists, peering into the future to help steer Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Electronic Sensors & Systems Sector through a period of complex changes.His vision for the coming year for the defense industry:More change.

Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin Corp. announced yesterday that it has reached a preliminary agreement to sell at least 50 F-16 fighter planes to Greece in a transaction valued at a total of $2 billion.Greece selected the F-16 Fighting Falcon over the F-15 Eagle, made by Boeing Co., after a long and intense evaluation, said Joseph Stout, a spokesman for Lockheed Martin."Greece has selected the plane and said it wants to buy it, but the transaction must first be approved by Congress," Stout said.

An environmental contractor just outside Sykesville has asked the Carroll Circuit Court to review the mayor's and Town Council's decision last month to rezone a neighboring property for residential development.While it's more usual to see neighborhoods trying to keep out industry, this judicial review is sought by Enviro Serve Inc. of the 7400 block of Buttercup Road, a training school for construction workers that serves the East Coast in remediation work such as asbestos and lead-paint removal.

When the Navy decided to put a snazzier radar on its new F/A-18 E/F fighter plane, the Linthicum unit of Northrop Grumman Corp. made a push to win the job. There was only one obstacle: Raytheon Co. already builds radars for the plane.Northrop Grumman's predatory move to unseat a fellow contractor has turned heads in the defense industry."This is more aggressive than is normal," said Paul Nisbet, a financial analyst with JSA Research Inc. "But as these companies become bigger because of consolidation, they become more aggressive, and it just gets to be a meaner world."

The Sykesville Town Council's rezoning of Raincliffe Center has paved the way for a 150-house development on the unimproved 32-acre site, once the community's only industrial property.Mayor Jonathan Herman's vote in favor of rezoning the site for residential use broke a 3-3 tie shortly after midnight Monday and followed a five-hour public hearing."Basically, I felt there had been a change in the neighborhood that warranted a rezoning," Herman said.The most significant change was the town's recent annexation of the Warfield Complex, 15 aging buildings on 138 acres that Sykesville plans to turn into an employment campus, Herman said.

Mark Thomas Mercer, a manager at Northrop Grumman, the defense contractor in Linthicum, died Friday of a brain tumor at home in Millersville. He was 41.Before working for Northrop Grumman, Mr. Mercer was a program manager for Westinghouse Electric Corp., also in Linthicum.Born in Baltimore and raised in Severna Park, Mr. Mercer graduated from Severna Park High School in 1976. He earned a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Delaware in 1980 and a master's degree in administrative science from the Johns Hopkins University in 1987.

Democratic Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski has added tens of millions of dollars to a defense spending measure in earmarked grants for her top campaign donors, according to a Baltimore Sun analysis. All but one of Mikulski's 16 funding requests were approved, making her the champion defense earmarker for the state. Final numbers won't be available until Congress completes action on the spending legislation later this fall. Included in the senator's $42.1 million total is a combined $10.5 million for three companies, Northrop Grumman, Thales Communications and L-3 Communications, whose executives and political action committees have been among her most generous contributors.

Northrop Grumman wins quality product rating Defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. said Friday that its Electronic Systems campuses in Baltimore and Norwalk, Conn., have been given the highest rating possible for the quality of its products and services by an industry/government coalition. Both campuses design, develop and manufacture advanced electronics for military, civil and commercial use. The rating, an assessment of the company's engineering and organization, is a designation of CMMI, or Capability Maturity Model Integration.

U.S. mortgage rates again at record low WASHINGTON: Rates on 30-year mortgages fell to the lowest level on record for the second consecutive week after the Federal Reserve launched a new effort to assist the staggering U.S. housing market. Mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac said Thursday that average rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages dropped to 4.78 percent this week, from 4.85 percent last week. It was the lowest in the history of Freddie Mac's survey, which dates back to 1971. Rates are down by more than a full percentage point from a year ago. "Mortgage rates followed other interest rates lower this week amid reports of slower economic growth," Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist, said in a prepared statement.

Banking and finance * PNC announced the appointments of Tracy A. Sorzano as trust director for the greater Maryland region and Lisa H.R. Hayes, a senior wealth planner, as senior vice president in the regional bank's wealth management division. * Provident Bank named James McGovern, credit risk review division, Amy Creason, emerging business division, and Roxanne Naiman-Roloff, business banking division, as vice presidents within their respective divisions. Construction * Harkins Builders Inc. announced that Steve Rubin joined the staff of the Marriottsville-based general contractor as business development manager.

Track down tax refund or stimulus check More than $4 million worth of stimulus checks and tax refunds belonging to thousands of Marylanders have been returned to the Internal Revenue Service as undeliverable. If your tax rebate or refund hasn't arrived, check with the IRS to make sure it has your correct address. Review the status of your check or refund online at www.irs.gov, clicking on "Where's My Stimulus Payment?" or "Where's My Refund?" Those without Internet access can call 866-234-2942 to find out about their stimulus check and 800-829-1954 to inquire about a refund.

Federal spending on contractors in Maryland fell last year for the second time in a row, a troubling trend for a state dependent on government business. Procurement spending dropped $1.3 billion, or 6 percent, in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2007, the U.S. Census Bureau said in a report set to be released today. Such spending had declined 3 percent the year before. The figures are adjusted to account for inflation. Federal dollars to contractors, which include such items as computer services and radar systems, totaled $21.1 billion last year.

Wells REIT acquires technology park near BWI Wells Real Estate Investment Trust II has acquired WestQuest Technology Park, a 315,000-square-foot office complex in Linthicum near Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. The complex is leased to defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. until 2017. Financial terms of the sale by WestGroup/ABS Capital were not disclosed. Wells REIT II, a public, nontraded REIT, specializes in office properties. The complex of two connected five-story buildings was built for Northrop Grumman in 1992.

Harry B. Smith, a former Westinghouse Electric Corp. executive who was known as the "father of pulse-Doppler radar," died Friday of a stroke at St. Agnes Hospital. He was 86. Mr. Smith helped develop the radar system for high-altitude surveillance aircraft before becoming president of the Defense and Electronics Center of Westinghouse, now Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems in Linthicum. "He was a great leader and a down-to-earth individual, and his work had a most significant impact on our business," said James F. Pitts, corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman.

BOGOTA, Colombia - Colombian soldiers tricked leftist guerrillas in a jungle camp into freeing 15 hostages, including a former presidential candidate and three U.S. military contractors, officials said yesterday. Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said the military rescued former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, three Americans employed by Northrop Grumman Corp. and 11 soldiers and police officers held for years by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. "This was an unprecedented operation," Santos told reporters.

The Government Accountability Office has backed Boeing's protest of the awarding of a multibillion-dollar contract for refueling tankers to Northrop Grumman and a European partner, saying the Air Force made errors during the process. The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, recommended yesterday that the Air Force reopen the bidding and obtain revised proposals. The $40 billion tanker program is the Air Force's No. 1 priority, intended to replace a fleet of aerial refueling tankers - which provide fuel to fighter jets and cargo planes in midair - that date back to the Eisenhower administration and which are being stressed in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.