Spain to Sign $2.2 Bln Deal to Sell Warships to Saudi Arabia
Spain and Saudi Arabia were due to sign a framework agreement for the purchase of warships worth more than $2 billion on Thursday, a Spanish Defence Ministry source said. Spanish state-owned shipbuilder Navantia would sell five small warships to the kingdom, and the deal would include the Spanish army training military personnel in Saudi Arabia and building a naval construction centre there, the source said. The ships would be sold for around 1.8 billion euros ($2.22 billion) in a deal which still requires final signatures from Navantia and the Saudi Defence Ministry, the source said. The details of the deal were confirmed by two other sources familiar with the matter. Navantia declined to comment.
Nichols Brothers Catamaran Delivered
Another Nichols Brothers catamaran joined the commuter fleet on San Francisco Bay in November. Nichols Brothers Boat Builders, Inc., of Whidbey Island, Wash., delivered a Cummins-powered, 112-ft. vessel for service between Alameda, Oakland, and San Francisco. The 315-passenger catamaran, M/V Peralta, will be operated by the Alameda/Oakland Ferry Service, with the Blue and Gold Fleet providing maintenance and engineering services. As with the 27 other catamarans built by Nichols Brothers, the vessel was designed by International Catamaran Designs of Sydney, Australia. Commuter route for the Peralta includes the ports of Alameda and Oakland and the ferry landing on the Embarcadero in San Francisco.
GD Reports 4Q, Full Year 2002 Results
General Dynamics reported 2002 fourth quarter earnings from continuing operations of $269 million, $1.33 per share on a fully diluted basis, on sales of $3.9 billion. This included a pretax gain of $36 million from the sale of certain space propulsion assets of its munitions business in the quarter. In the fourth quarter of 2001, earnings from continuing operations were $251 million, $1.23 per share, on sales of $3.5 billion. The quarter ended on December 31, 2002. In the fourth quarter, the company made a decision to exit its undersea fiberoptic cable-laying business, which had been part of the Information Systems and Technology group since 1998.
