Titan Corp., the San Diego-based communications defense contractor, reported net income of $19 million on revenues of $559 million for the first quarter, compared to net income of $3.1 million on revenues of $454 million for the like period of 2004.
Titan’s profits on record quarterly sales were depressed by after-tax costs of $3.7 million related to a federal investigation into admitted violations of federal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
The company announced last month it agreed to pay the government $28 million in combined criminal and civil penalties arising from the violations — the largest ever levied for FCPA transgressions.
The violations involved payments made by Titan contracted employees used to influence the outcome of a presidential election in the African nation of Benin, where Titan had business dealings.
Titan’s net income during 2004 was also reduced from $11 million in after-tax costs associated with its planned sale to Lockheed Martin, which pulled out of the deal in 2004 when Titan and federal agencies investigating the bribery matter did not reach a settlement.
Chairman Gene Ray pointed to Titan’s 23 percent sales growth and a backlog of $6.6 billion in contracts as evidence the company’s strategy was successful.
The company has been growing at double-digit increases in recent years as it wins multimillion-dollar contracts associated with work done for the Department of Homeland Security and the global war on terrorism.
For this fiscal year, Titan projected sales to finish between $2.37 billion and $2.45 billion, up from 2004 when it had $2.05 billion in revenues.
Net income on continuing operations was estimated to come between $1.02 to $1.11 per share, fully diluted.
Titan has 12,000 employees worldwide, including about 1,300 in San Diego.
— Mike Allen
