Lockheed Martin To Cut About 500 Jobs In IT Services Unit

(RTTNews) - Defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) said Wednesday that it will cut about 500 jobs at its Information Systems & Global Solutions or IS&GS segment by mid-November 2015.

The Bethesda, Maryland-based company noted that the job cuts are in response to shifting government priorities, changing industry dynamics and efforts to improve IS&GS' competitiveness. The job cuts includes voluntary and involuntary layoffs.

Sondra Barbour, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin IS&GS said, "We made these difficult decisions as part of our efforts to remain competitive in an extremely challenging environment where industry dynamics have shifted, customer budgets are constrained and competition has continued to escalate. Continuing to reduce our overhead costs, is expected to enable us to be a much leaner and more agile organization which is what is needed to compete effectively."

In July, Lockheed Martin said it would conduct a strategic review of its government IT and technical services businesses, primarily in the IS&GS business segment. The company noted that while the layoffs are not related to the strategic review, they are part of a larger effort to optimize IS&GS' resources and align them to customers' existing needs as well as the business climate.

Lockheed Martin, in July, reported a 4 percent increase in profit for the second quarter from the prior year on higher sales, offsetting lower operating margins.

LMT is trading at $207.74, up $0.73 or 0.35 percent on a volume of 172,914 shares.