
Exelis [XLS] on Friday said its first quarter earnings rose due to lower restructuring costs while sales were down due in large part to less work under United States government contracts in Afghanistan and the Middle East. The company also said the planned spin off of its Mission Systems segment into a new publicly-traded company called Vectrus remains on track for this summer. Sales at Mission Systems, which is not part of Exelis’ continuing operations, are expected to be down…