L3Harris plans to speed up divestitures

L3Harris Technologies’ divestiture activity slowed in the second quarter of 2020 because of the coronavirus outbreak but is starting to pick up again now that industry has adjusted to the pandemic, according to the US defence contractor’s top executive.

“We’ve seen early in Q3 a little bit more acceleration,” said Bill Brown, L3Harris’ chairman and CEO. “I think Q4 is going to be busier. Early ‘21 is going to be busier.”

L3Harris, which was created last year through the merger of L3 Technologies and Harris Corporation, has said it intends to divest about 8–10% of its USD18 billion in annual revenue by selling businesses it does not consider a good fit for the new company.

“It’s really about businesses that should not be here,” Brown told investors on 15 September at Morgan Stanley’s 8th Annual Laguna Conference. “We want to focus the time and attention on those that really matter.”

L3Harris is about a third of the way toward reaching its goal, having completed three transactions so far. It has sold gun sight maker EOTech, scientific instruments business Applied Kilovolts, and an airport security and automation business.