Titan Earnings, Revenue Surge

Titan Corp. said Wednesday that fourth-quarter profit surged as conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan increased demand by the U.S. military for its language translation services.

One day after settling federal bribery charges, the San Diego company said net income rose to $9.29 million, or 11 cents a share, from $1.06 million, or 1 cent, a year earlier.

Titan, the largest supplier of linguists to the Army, said revenue rose 15% to $551.6 million.

For 2004, Titan reported a net loss of $38.4 million, or 44 cents a share, contrasted with net income of $29.1 million, or 34 cents, for 2003. Revenue rose 17% to $2.05 billion.

Titan is benefiting from growing Army demand for speakers of Arabic and Pashto. Language services accounted for 12% of 2004 sales. The $28.5-million settlement announced Tuesday ended probes by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission into whether Titan covered up illegal payments to foreign officials.

Shares of Titan rose 15 cents to $17.50 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Titan increased its 2005 profit forecast to a range of $86 million to $95 million, or 98 cents to $1.08 a share. In October, the company had forecast profit of as much as $92 million, or $1.05 a share.

Revenue from linguist services to the Army rose 48% to $74.6 million in the fourth quarter. For the full year, translation work rose 86% to $247.2 million.

The Army has extended Titan’s language work through September under a $400-million contract, Chief Executive Gene Ray said in a conference call.