UPDATE 2-MDA reports lower profit as revenue slides
* Q1 EPS 60 Cdn cents vs 64 Cdn cents
* Revenue C$272 million vs C$290.4 million
* Stock falls 3 percent (Adds stock price)
TORONTO, May 5 (Reuters) - Real estate data and space technology company MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA.TO) posted a lower first-quarter profit on Tuesday as reduced market activity hurt demand for its information products.
MDA said it earned C$24.4 million, or 60 Canadian cents a share, in the three months ended March 31. That was down from a profit of C$26.1 million, or 64 Canadian cents a share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, the company posted earnings of 58 Canadian cents a share, down from 61 Canadian cents a share.
Revenue fell to C$272 million from C$290.4 million.
In 2008, the planned $1.33 billion sale of MDA's space robotics and satellite technology business to U.S. rocket-maker Alliant Techsystems Inc (ATK.N) was blocked by the Canadian government.
Ottawa halted the deal in part because it feared it might lose control over top-secret satellite images. It was the first time Canada had prevented the sale of a domestic company to a foreign buyer.
MDA's shares fell 3 percent to C$30.60 on the Toronto Stock Exchange shortly after market open on Tuesday.
($1=$1.17 Canadian) (Reporting by Euan Rocha and Wojtek Dabrowski, editing by Rob Wilson)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved



