Rockwell Collins hasn’t finished its fiscal year yet but the Cedar Rapids based maker of avionics and entertainment systems already expects a good report. Dan Crookshank is vice president of investor relations.He says they expect sales of two-point-nine-Billion dollars for this year, and shares will pay a dollar-60 to 1-65, about the same as projected at the end of the company’s third quarter and in all a “pretty good year.” 54-percent of Rockwell’s sales are to the government, and Crookshank says the business of outfitting military planes with navigation systems has held strong despite the recession of recent years. Crookshank says recent increases in the defense budget combined with some big sales of their programs to modernize military planes will mean revenue growth “in the low single-digit range” for the government systems side of the company’s business. The military market has remained strong the last couple years, which Crookshank says has helped hold revenues steady for Rockwell Collins. Projections for this year call for a third consecutive year of double-digit sales growth in RC’s government-systems business, which has offset the slump in business and regional jet markets, as civilian travel fell off in recent years because of the events of 911, the Iraq war, SARS and the fears that caused among the traveling public. Commercial systems include airlines that buy navigation gear, radios, and entertainment systems for their passengers. Crookshank says that market’s been rebounding from its post-9/11 slump. He says revenues should increase by nearly 10-percent. Rockwell’s projecting a 3-point-3-Billion dollar sales total for fiscal year 2005, up from two-point-9-Billion in the year that ends September 30.
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