Textron Systems reports lower quarterly sales

Textron said today its Textron Systems business saw sales of $489 million in the most recent quarter, down from $532 million last year.

The company said the decline was a result of "lower volume at Weapons and Sensors." Profit was down to $37 million, from $53 million during the same three-month period a year earlier.

However, Textron Systems saw increased sales over the course of the year. For 2017, the business recorded $1.8 billion in sales, up almost 5 percent from 2016.

Scott Donnelly, Textron's chief executive, said in a call with analysts this morning the company's sensor-fuzed weapon sales dropped by half last year. This year, the program, which the company announced in 2016 it would discontinue, won't provide any revenue, he said.

"There are a number of new . . . munitions programs that we're bidding on, that we're actively pursuing," he said, noting that the ongoing continuing resolution adds a challenge. "Obviously, we have a lot of work going on to get that piece of the business back in a growth trajectory."