Serco Announces Intent to Acquire Northrop Grumman's Mission Training and Satellite Ground Network Communications Software Business Strengthening U.S. Defense and Space Solutions
Adding to Serco's existing defense capabilities, MT&S provides the U.S. military with advanced mission training services, and software that makes satellite ground networks more efficient.
With expertise in training services and software engineering, and a track record of innovation, it supports programs across the U.S. Army, Space Force, Air Force, Navy, Combatant Commands and international partners. MT&S has a portfolio of U.S. defence service contracts with annual revenues of approximately $300 million.
The acquisition of MT&S will add scale to Serco in North America, growing the business beyond $2 billion of revenue. It will deliver value for customers, new opportunities for colleagues, and attractive returns for shareholders through:
Enhanced Defense and Space Capabilities
The acquisition of Northrop Grumman's mission training and satellite ground network communications software business represents a significant advancement in Serco's mission-readiness offerings, integrating specialized expertise in synthetic training, exercise simulation, and ground satellite communications software solutions. Additionally, the combination will enable Serco to provide more robust, secure solutions that meet the increasingly complex needs of modern defense and space operations.
Increased Market Reach and Operational Scale
By acquiring this business, Serco will expand its footprint within the U.S. Department of Defense, strengthening partnerships with key customers such as the U.S. Army, Space Force, Air Force, Navy, and Combatant Commands.
Commitment to Innovation and Talent
The team of nearly 1,000 highly skilled professionals will join Serco's workforce across North America, bringing invaluable expertise in areas such as digital engineering, software development, satellite ground communications software, and mission simulation. This will enable Serco to be even better positioned to drive innovation in defense technologies while supporting national security objectives.
Global Growth and Expanded Space Market Presence
This acquisition supports Serco's strategic growth goals within the international space sector. The MT&S business brings capabilities in space operations and services, including its 20+ year leadership in optimization software, enabling Serco to expand into high-growth international markets. This expertise aligns with Serco's ambitions to strengthen its global space footprint, particularly in U.S., UK, Australian, and Middle Eastern markets.
The acquisition, subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to close in mid-2025, at a purchase price of $327 million.
Tom Watson, CEO of Serco in North America:
'This acquisition is an important next step in our strategic journey and underscores Serco's dedication to growth and innovation in mission-critical solutions. The integration of this enhanced portfolio of work will expand our footprint within the Defense market, strengthening Serco's partnerships with key customers including the U.S. Army, Space Force, Air Force, Navy and Combatant Commands.
Upon closing, we look forward to the positive impact and invaluable expertise these new colleagues will bring to our organization in areas such as digital engineering, software development, satellite ground communications software, and mission simulation.'
Mark Irwin, Group CEO of Serco said:
'We have approximately doubled revenue and more than trebled profit in Serco's North America business in recent years through a successful combination of organic growth and strategic acquisitions. MT&S provides an excellent opportunity to continue that success.
The acquisition increases our scale, capabilities and growth potential in US defence, the largest defence market in the world, as well as providing solutions we can offer to our customers worldwide. The acquired capability delivers comprehensive, critical, technology-enabled services fully aligned to the US military's focus on enhancing warfighting standards and readiness through solutions that are both efficient and effective.
We look forward to welcoming nearly 1,000 new colleagues from MT&S to Serco and are excited to add their knowledge and experience to our work supporting the U.S. Department of Defense's enduring mission to provide combat-credible military forces needed to protect the security of the nation.'
Notes to Editors: Background on Northrop Grumman's Mission Training and Satellite Ground Network Communications Software (MT&S) business
MT&S is a leading provider of training and satellite ground network communications software solutions to the US military.
Its technology-enabled training services help war fighters achieve mission readiness through advanced simulation-based training and mission rehearsal capabilities across multi-domain immersive environments, powered by live, virtual and constructive technologies. Through the Mission Command Training Program (MCTP) the business coordinates advanced training exercises using US Army principles, tactics, techniques and procedures to give soldiers the most realistic scenarios to train with. MT&S owns and develops the Distributed Mission Operations Network (DMON). The network delivers secure connectivity and network interoperability between unique simulator platforms across the globe, allowing aircrews in different locations to train together in a high-fidelity virtual environment, including mission planning and execution materials, scheduling, briefing, execution, and debriefing.
Its software optimises satellite ground station performance. This includes providing software for communications planning and network monitoring.
About Serco: Serco Inc. is a leading provider of professional, technology, engineering, and management services. We advise, design, integrate, and deliver solutions that transform how clients achieve their missions. Our customer-first approach, robust portfolio of services, and global experience enable us to respond with solutions that achieve outcomes with value. Headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, Serco Inc. has approximately 9,000 employees and annual revenue of $1.7 billion. Serco Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Serco Group plc, a $5 billion international business that helps transform government and public services around the world. More information about Serco can be found at www.serco.com/na.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNBC
2 hours ago
- CNBC
Stock futures are little changed as traders await big tech earnings, eye trade developments: Live updates
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, U.S., July 15, 2025. Jeenah Moon | Reuters U.S. stock futures were little changed Sunday night as investors tracked the latest developments on trade, and awaited the start of big tech earnings this week. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell by 18 points, or 0.04%. S&P 500 futures gained 0.02%, while Nasdaq 100 futures traded flat. Trade was once again in focus as the White House reiterated its position on tariffs. On Sunday, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called Aug. 1 the "hard deadline" for countries to start paying tariffs, though he also added that "nothing stops countries from talking to us after August 1." Wall Street is coming off a winning week for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, both of which continued to notch all-time highs. The S&P 500 ended the week higher by 0.6%, while the Nasdaq climbed 1.5%. The Dow ended the week slightly lower. The moves come on the heels of a solid start to earnings season. Of the 59 S&P 500 companies that have reported thus far, more than 86% have topped expectations, according to FactSet data. The major averages could receive a boost in the week ahead if Alphabet and Tesla — the first of the so-called Magnificent Seven companies set to report — manage to beat estimates. The megacaps are expected to be a major driver of earnings growth during the second-quarter earnings season. FactSet's John Butters expects the Magnificent Seven will post earnings growth of 14% in the second quarter, while the other 493 S&P 500 companies are seen posting growth of just 3.4%. "We're at an all time high for the [S&P 500] right at the beginning of earnings season," said Mark Malek, investment chief at Siebert Financial, adding, "If we can get through this earnings season with not too many major failures, I think that is really, really important at this point, if we want to continue this upward momentum that we have in the market." On the economic front, the June reading for leading indicators, which are predictive metrics for the overall market and economy, is scheduled for release on Monday at 10 a.m. ET. Verizon Communications and Domino's Pizza are among the companies set to report earnings Monday. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday that Aug. 1 is the deadline for countries to begin paying tariffs to the United States, but said that "nothing stops countries from talking to us after August 1." "That's a hard deadline, so on August 1, the new tariff rates will come in," Lutnick said on CBS News, when asked about the deadline for his tariffs on the European Union. President Donald Trump's tariff deadline has shifted since he announced his steep levies on trading partners on April 2, but White House officials now maintain that Aug. 1 is a firm deadline. "Nothing stops countries from talking to us after August 1, but they're going to start paying the tariffs on August 1," Lutnick said. — Erin Doherty, Sarah Min Stock futures opened little changed Sunday night. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell by 18 points, or 0.04%. S&P 500 futures gained 0.02%, while Nasdaq 100 futures traded flat. — Sarah Min
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Analyst updates S&P 500 forecast in mid-year outlook
Analyst updates S&P 500 forecast in mid-year outlook originally appeared on TheStreet. There weren't many beating the bullish drum on the stock market in early April. The S&P 500 and tech-laden Nasdaq Composite were mired in a brutal downturn following harsher-than-hoped tariff announcements and growing economic concerns on jobs and inflation. The S&P 500 retreated 19% from its mid-February highs before finding its footing on April 9. That near-bear market had everyone a bit antsy, particularly given President Donald Trump's mounting trade war. Nevertheless, stocks' decline was fast and steep enough to cause most sentiment measures to signal oversold, suggesting that those willing to step into the fray could be rewarded for buying the dip. And boy, have they been rewarded. 💵💰💰💵 The S&P 500 has marched 25% higher, and the Nasdaq has surged over 30%. President Trump's pause on most reciprocal tariffs fueled the gains on April 9. Hope that tariffs would settle at more manageable levels and significant new stimulus associated with trillions of dollars in tax cuts from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act kept the rally humming along to new all-time highs. The big question on most minds now is whether this record-setting run can continue. Those in the bearish camp point toward weaker GDP, cracks in the jobs market, and inflation risks. Bullish investors think most of those risks were priced in during the spring sell-off, and the bar has been set low enough that anything less than disaster would be good enough to push forward revenue, earnings, and economic outlooks higher, rather than lower. The debate has prompted many popular Wall Street analysts, including Carson Group's Chief Strategist Ryan Detrick, to update their outlook. The stock market climbs a very high wall of worry Stocks are forward-looking and are considered a leading, rather than lagging, indicator. The ability of stock prices to predict what may happen to the economy can be messy, with short-term fits and starts. However, stocks' ability to aggregate market participants' collective wisdom is generally considered a valuable tool for economists and predictive nature of markets is one reason behind the old Wall Street adage, "stocks climb a wall of worry." Often, stocks bottom when everyone thinks the worst has yet to happen, and they top when everyone sees roses and daisies. Over the past three months, the stock market has climbed a big wall of concern. U.S. employers have announced over 696,000 layoffs through May, up 80% year over year, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The unemployment rate has inched up to 4.1% in June from 3.4% in 2023. And inflation, while much lower than in 2022, when the Federal Reserve declared war on it by significantly raising interest rates, is still above the 2% level targeted by many, including the Fed. The backdrop still suggests that stagflation or, worse, recession is a possibility. But so far, stocks indicate the economy will sidestep most damage. While we don't know when the Fed may support the economy with interest rate cuts, most are modeling lower rates over the coming year, helping fuel economic activity. Also, the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act contains significant tax cuts, including new Social Security income tax breaks and a higher State and Local Tax deduction, which provide additional money to support spending and GDP. If so, analysts who cut revenue and growth outlooks this spring will shift gears, increasing forecasts and potentially fueling additional upside. Those upward revisions would go a long way toward appeasing those concerned about the S&P 500's valuation, given that the recent rally has inflated its price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio. The S&P 500 topped out in February when its forward price-to-earnings ratio eclipsed 22. It bottomed out when the P/E ratio reached about 19. The recent rally has again pushed the S&P 500's P/E over 22, which historically doesn't correspond with favorable one-year returns. Analysts' mid-year 2025 stock market outlook is largely bullish Ryan Detrick has been correctly banging the bullish drum for a while, and his team's midyear outlook also tells a bullish tale. Detrick's optimism is partially rooted in history. He often shares data highlighting how the stock market has historically behaved after catalysts, and this time is no exception. Fortunately, for bulls, history is on the side of more gains. The strategist points out that since the early 1970s, there have been five instances when the S&P 500 rose by 19% in 27 trading days like this year. Each time, the market was higher one year later, returning a median of 32.6%. Since 1950, the S&P 500 has been up one year later 74% of the time, returning a median of 10.4%.We've already made a big chunk of returns, but Detrick's team writes, "This is still a young bull market." The average bull market lasts 67 months, and this one has only lasted a little over 30 months so far. "Like a cruise ship that is very hard to turn once it gets moving, bull markets tend to carry their momentum forward, another reason this one could last much longer than many think," wrote the analysts. As for valuation, they believe there's a bull case that a "low tariffs, big tax bill" environment will provide a catalyst for earnings, helping keep the P/E ratio in check. "It's hard to imagine that the tariffs will go back to where they were, but perhaps we're left with about 15% additional new tariffs on average— not at all trivial, but far from worst case," wrote the analysts. "Companies should be able to navigate the additional tariffs and maintain profit margins, especially larger companies with less fragile supply chains." Carson Group thinks the S&P 500 could reach 6,550, a 10% to 12% gain for 2025. Add in dividends, and the index's total return could be 12% to 15%. Currently, the S&P 500 is up about 7% in 2025. "Stocks came soaring back in one of the largest reversals ever, suggesting the lows for 2025 are likely behind us and better times could be coming for investors,' said Detrick. 'While 2025 has already been a wild ride — and we should still prepare for more ups and downs — we see reasons to expect this bull market to continue.'Analyst updates S&P 500 forecast in mid-year outlook first appeared on TheStreet on Jul 20, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jul 20, 2025, where it first appeared. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Miami Herald
6 hours ago
- Miami Herald
The stock market is being led by a new group of winners
For a while, the S&P 500's returns have been dominated by a select group of technology kingpins known as the magnificent seven. Those seven stocks, Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Nvidia, and Tesla, powered the market higher due to massive spending and demand growth for artificial intelligence training and inference. Related: History suggests stocks could have more upside, says analyst They remain key cogs in the S&P 500's performance, but more recently, a new basket of stocks is delivering big returns, potentially signaling the early days of a regime change. Unlike the Mag 7, the new leaders are far less tied to AI. Sure, names like Palantir and Nvidia remain big winners, but the broader group of stocks delivering eye-popping returns spans more industries, including finance and, yes, even space. It's been a tale of two markets this year. First, stocks took a drubbing beginning in February when President Trump launched his trade war, instituting 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico. Related: Veteran fund manager who predicted Nvidia stock rally reboots forecast on China The White House followed that up with more tariffs, often higher than Wall Street and businesses expected, including a baseline 10% tariff on all imports and a 25% tariff on autos. Altogether, the tariff tit-for-tat took a big toll on stocks, causing the S&P 500 to fall by 19%-nearly into bear market territory-and the Nasdaq Composite to tumble about 24% through early April. Then, everything changed. President Trump paused most reciprocal tariffs on April 9, providing leeway for trade deals that could settle tariffs at more reasonable levels. The glimmer of hope for avoiding a worst-case scenario of high tariffs sparking inflation and sending the economy into a tailspin marked a bottom for stocks, kicking off a record-setting rally. The S&P 500 has marched 24% higher while the Nasdaq has rallied by over 30% as more people have lowered their forward inflation expectations. While there's some concerning economic data on jobs and the economy, market gains suggest we'll sidestep an economic reckoning, providing upside to revenue and earnings growth. By now, most investors are familiar with market darlings Nvidia and Palantir, two of the most prominent AI players. Given its dominance in high-end AI semiconductor chips and optimization software, Nvidia is the de facto Goliath in AI network infrastructure. Palantir has become a go-to for securely developing AI apps for government and corporations. Related: Billionaire Ackman has one-word message on stock market Those stocks have been top performers over the past few months, rising 82% and 107% from their early April lows. But other big-cap technology companies haven't performed nearly as well. Alphabet and Apple are up 28% and 23%, respectively. Solid. But not game-changing. You could have bought the Nasdaq 100 and done much better. Instead, a new set of stock market darlings has been outpacing the market, including space technology leader Rocket Lab (RKLB) and fintech leader SoFi Technologies (SOFI) . Crypto leader Coinbase (COIN) has also been a star. These three stocks are up 214%, 130%, and 176%, respectively, from their April lows. Moreover, to understand just how good the performance of this new basket of leaders has been, you need look no further than the VanEck Social Sentiment ETF (BUZZ) . The BUZZ ETF invests in "75 large cap U.S. stocks which exhibit the highest degree of positive investor sentiment and bullish perception based on content aggregated from online sources including social media, news articles, blog posts and other alternative datasets," according to VanEck. In short, it attempts to keep its finger on the pulse of the most interesting stocks. So far, that strategy is working. The BUZZ ETF gained 36% in the second quarter and is up 22% year-to-date through June. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 is up 11% and 6%. It's up 66% since early April, and month-to-date through July 18, it's gained 8% versus a 2% return for the Nasdaq. More on next-generation stocks: Veteran trader has blunt words for SoFi's latest moveSpace stocks soar as Elon Musk and Donald Trump argueIs quantum computing the next big thing in stocks? "Look at how poorly the QQQs have done relative to BUZZ since April. Think about this, we consider the QQQs to be the pinnacle of technology stocks, yet they practically look like the healthcare stocks relative to the S&P when compared to BUZZ," wrote long-time technical analyst Helene Meisler on TheStreet Pro. It's not just Rocket Lab, Coinbase, and SoFi powering the ETF, either. Yes, those are the three largest holdings in BUZZ, but AST SpaceMobile and Robinhood (HOOD) are number four and five, and they've been up 186% and 219% since early April. Nvidia and Palantir are only BUZZ's 10th and 11th biggest holdings, so while their gains are substantial, they're not the ones behind the ETF's significant outperformance. Does the rise of Rocket Lab, thanks to a steady stream of revenue growth from shooting satellites into the sky, or SoFI, which is increasingly disrupting traditional banking, signal the rise of a new guard, or is it just a temporary speculative frenzy? "I was taught that corrections are the market's way of changing leadership," wrote Meisler. "Was the spring plunge the market's way of changing leadership? Or is this just speculation run amok? If you go back to that ratio chart, it's a trend that has been in place for at least a year." Of course, stocks don't go up in a straight line, and some backfilling of gains for this new group of winners is to be expected. Still, one year is a pretty long period for this ETF and its biggest components to outpace the broader market. Todd Campbell owns Rocket Lab, SoFi Technologies, Nvidia, and Palantir. Related: Bank of America delivers bold S&P 500 target The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
