Fitch Expects to Rate Lockheed Martin's New Notes 'A-'.NEW YORK New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of -- Fitch expects to assign an 'A-' rating to Lockheed Martin's (LMT LMT left mentotransverse (position of fetus). ) proposed senior unsecured notes due 2036. LMT has offered up to $1 billion of the new notes and cash in exchange for existing debentures maturing in 2029, 2024, 2023, and 2026. The purpose of the exchange offer is to lower LMT's average cost of borrowing and to extend the average maturity of outstanding debt. The exchange offer does not affect Fitch's ratings or Rating Outlook for LMT's existing debt securities. Fitch's existing ratings for LMT are as follows: --Issuer Default Rating (IDR IDR In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Indonesian Rupiah. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. ) 'A-'; --Senior unsecured debt Unsecured debt Debt that does not identify specific assets that the debtholder is entitled to in case of default. 'A-'; --Bank facility 'A-'; --Commercial paper 'F-2'. The Rating Outlook is Stable. The ratings cover approximately $4.8 billion of outstanding debt. Fitch upgraded LMT's ratings on March 20, 2006 to 'A-' from 'BBB+'. The upgrade was based on LMT's strong operating performance, including margin expansion and cash generation, the more stable outlook for some of LMT's largest defense programs, substantial financial flexibility, and the level of LMT's credit statistics relative to its defense peers and other industrial corporations rated by Fitch. The upgrade was also based on the releases of the fiscal-year (FY) 2007 DoD Budget Request and the Quadrennial Defense Review
The Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) is a report by the United States Department of Defense that analyzes strategic objectives and potential military , both of which reduced uncertainty in the defense spending environment. The possibility of large, multi-billion dollar acquisitions remains a key credit concern, and Fitch could review the ratings and/or the Outlook if LMT finances acquisitions with debt. The ratings reflect the company's position as a leading defense contractor Noun 1. defense contractor - a contractor concerned with the development and manufacture of systems of defense armed forces, armed services, military, military machine, war machine - the military forces of a nation; "their military is the largest in the region"; , high U.S. defense spending, strong cash flow and liquidity, and large backlog. Concerns include a cash deployment strategy focused on share repurchases and dividends, U.S. government budget deficits and their potential impact on future defense spending, a large pension deficit, and some modest program concentration in the Aeronautics segment. The ratings incorporate expectations for substantial cash deployment, but stable debt levels. Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use Terms of Use are rules set up by the owner of an intellectual property or service to govern how they may be legally used. In many cases, terms of service are used as a contractual agreement between a company and users of a service they provide. of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. |
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