Citing improved results in its core aerospace business, GenCorp Inc. reported stronger profits and sales Wednesday.
The Rancho Cordova parent company of Aerojet said it earned $15 million, or 24 cents a share, in the fourth quarter.
That compared with a loss of $5.7 million during the fourth quarter of 2008, when GenCorp swallowed one-time charges related to the decision to freeze its pension plan. The per-share loss came to 10 cents.
Revenue jumped to $240.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2009 from $198.5 million the previous year, the result of growth in Aerojet’s Standard Missile and Orion space-vehicle programs.
All but a sliver of the revenue came from aerospace, showing once again that Aerojet’s operations are the main driver at GenCorp even as the company tries to become a real estate developer. A former aerospace executive from Northrop Grumman, Scott Seymour, was named president and chief executive of GenCorp last month.
For years, GenCorp has been working on a plan to convert thousands of idle company-owned acres along Highway 50 into residential and commercial developments. The idea has been slowed by the recession, but the company last month formed a new corporation, Easton Development Co. LLC, to move ahead with its development program.
GenCorp stock closed at $5.81, up 10 cents, on the New York Stock Exchange.