British property-market woes hit MacDonald Dettwiler stock
MDA three-month chart
MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, best known to Canadians for its exploits in space, saw its share price shrink nearly 20 per cent at times Thursday because of weakness in the British property market.
Behind the drop was the fact that the Richmond, B.C., company's main business involves such things as computerized real estate and municipal assessment information, not Radarsat satellites or Canadarm robotic manipulators.
The space operations do not loom large in its financial picture. It tried to sell them to a U.S. company earlier this year, but Ottawa blocked the deal.
On the Toronto Stock Exchange, MDA shares were down as much as $5.48 at $21.95 after the company issued a brief statement warning that its third-quarter earnings "will be lower due to the current housing and lending environment in the United Kingdom."
The stock closed at $23, still down $4.43 or 16 per cent.
House prices have been on the skids in Britain as a credit crisis that began in the United States spreads through much of the world.
"We are in the process of restructuring and right-sizing our U.K. products business to endeavour to achieve break-even at current volumes," the statement said.
MDA employs more than 3,300 people in the United States, Britain and Canada, it said. It did not say how many jobs might be lost in Britain.
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