NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Aug. 5, 2002-- Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today it lowered its long-term corporate credit and senior unsecured debt ratings on BAE Systems PLC to single-'A'-minus from single-'A'. At the same time, Standard&Poor's affirmed its 'A-1' short-term corporate credit and commercial paper ratings. The outlook is stable. About £3.4 billion in total debt is outstanding. "The affirmation reflects the Farnborough, U.K.-based firm's consistently high levels of cash and short-term investments, which comfortably exceeded commercial paper usage in recent years," said Standard&Poor's credit analyst Roman Szuper. Standard&Poor's anticipates that this relationship will continue. "The downgrade reflects the company's weak profitability, with write-offs producing net losses in the past two
