Engility reports quarterly loss

Engility reported Thursday it lost $3.2 million in its most recent quarter, less than the $13.4 million loss the company recorded in the same three-month period a year earlier.

The contractor announced quarterly sales hit $523 million, up from $403 million in the same period the prior year.

Lynn Dugle, the company's new chief executive, laid out her plans, telling analysts in a late Thursday call the company will be focused on realizing sustainable organic growth, increasing and retaining its talent base and strengthening its balance sheet.

"Organic growth is our top priority and, to grow in this highly competitive industry, we must increase our win rate and total bookings," Dugle said.

In particular, she pointed to the intelligence and civil markets as "significant potential growth areas" for Engility.

Dugle also said that while Engility is seeing more best-value -- as opposed to lowest-priced, technically acceptable -- contracts, the company is watching closely to see if those competitions actually result in awards to bidders who don't offer the lowest price.

"The jury's a bit out on that, but I will say that we are not ever going to get only focused on price," she said.