NEWPORT NEWS, Va., March 29, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) President and CEO Mike Petters will signal the end of the March 29 trading session—and HII’s first year of operations—by ringing the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

HII was established March 31, 2011, as an independent and publicly traded company. HII builds the most complex, cost-effective and capable warships that have ever sailed the seas, and over the last century has built more ships in more ship classes than any other U.S. naval shipbuilder.

“It has been a very successful first year for HII,” Petters said. “We accomplished many things for the very first time in establishing the new business while continuing to do what we do best: building ships. We had high-quality deliveries from both Newport News Shipbuilding and Ingalls Shipbuilding—the destroyer USS William P. Lawrence (DDG 110), the submarine USS California (SSN 781), the amphibious transport dock San Diego (LPD 22) and the Coast Guard cutter Stratton (WMSL 752). We also started construction on two ships, received new construction contracts on three others and reached the halfway point on structural work for the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78). We’re off to a strong start, and I credit our success to the 38,000 talented and dedicated employees at HII. I’d also like to thank our communities, customers and shareholders for their support in our inaugural year. We will continue our unwavering focus on building the greatest ships for our nation in the most efficient and affordable manner.”

During its first year, HII had sales of $6.58 billion and maintains a contract backlog of $16.3 billion as of Dec. 31, 2011.

Photo/Video: Photos available via Associated Press/New York (212.621.1902), Reuters America (646.223.6285), Getty Images (646.613.4141) and Bloomberg Photo (212.617.3420). The Closing Bell (starting at 3:55 p.m.) feed is available via Ascent loop #4009. Media seeking footage via The Switch should contact NYSE Broadcast at 212.656.5483.

Statements in this release, other than statements of historical fact, constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in these statements. Factors that may cause such differences include: changes in government and customer priorities and requirements (including government budgetary constraints, shifts in defense spending, and changes in customer short-range and long-range plans); our ability to obtain new contracts, estimate our costs and perform effectively; risks related to our spin-off from Northrop Grumman (including our increased costs and leverage); our ability to realize the expected benefits from consolidation of our Gulf Coast facilities; natural disasters; adverse economic conditions in the United States and globally; and other risk factors discussed herein and in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. There may be other risks and uncertainties that we are unable to predict at this time or that we currently do not expect to have a material adverse effect on our business, and we undertake no obligations to update any forward-looking statements.

About Huntington Ingalls Industries

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) designs, builds and maintains nuclear and non-nuclear ships for the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard and provides after-market services for military ships around the globe. For more than a century, HII has built more ships in more ship classes than any other U.S. naval shipbuilder. Employing more than 37,000 in Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana and California, its primary business divisions are Newport News Shipbuilding and Ingalls Shipbuilding. For more information, visit: