QinetiQ lifts off with £1.2bn deal
Defence technology firm QinetiQ was given a timely boost after it won a £1.2bn contract from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
NASA deal: Qinetic has won a contract for work at Kennedy Space Centre
The deal, which is set to run for at least five years, has a base value of nearly £100m plus a further possible £1.1bn depending on which options NASA chooses from a range of services on offer from the UK firm.
The work is likely to include designing and developing ground systems for the Kennedy centre, where the Apollo 11 rocket that put the first men on the Moon was launched as well as the space shuttle Endeavor.
The news pushed up shares in QinetiQ by 1.7p to 113.7p, though they are still down on their 12-month high of 178.5p.
Chief executive Leo Quinn, who is six months into a two-year programme to transform the underperforming group, is battling against headwinds including cuts to defence budgets in the UK and the US.
President Obama recently cancelled NASA's £67bn programme to get astronauts back on the Moon by 2020 and on Mars by 2030.
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