GVFlyer
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2002
- Posts
- 1,461
From the Online Wall Street Journal
Business-Jet Sales Aid Bombardier
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif]Fourth-Quarter Profit
Shows 30% Increase;
Airline Sales Weaken[/FONT]
[FONT=times new roman,times,serif][FONT=times new roman,times,serif]By MONICA GUTSCHI
March 29, 2007; Page C12[/FONT]
[/FONT]
Bombardier Inc. may have to ramp up its production of business jets as demand for the luxury aircraft continues to grow.
The Montreal maker of planes and trains reported a 30% rise in fiscal fourth-quarter profit as a robust business-jet market offset weaker regional aircraft sales and as business picked up in its rail-equipment unit.
Pierre Beaudoin, president of Bombardier's aerospace unit, said the company will be talking to its suppliers about increasing production of corporate jets, especially its popular Global Express where the backlog is now at 24 months.
Bombardier's Global Express business jet has a 2-year backlog. That is too long for most customers to wait, Mr. Beaudoin said, and is well above the company's target of a maximum 18 months. He said, "The demand for new airplanes is very strong. I don't see the market slowing down at this point."
Backlog for the midsize Challenger series of jets is now 14 months -- compared with a maximum target of 12, while the backlog on the smaller Lear jets is at 11 months compared with a maximum target of nine months.
Bombardier received 274 orders for business jets in fiscal 2007 which ended Jan. 31. That was 55 more than in fiscal 2006, and made up the lion's share of the total order book of 363 aircraft. It had 117 orders for business jets in the latest quarter, compared with 71 a year earlier.
The company delivered 212 business aircraft during the year, compared with 197 in fiscal 2006.
By contrast, the regional-jet market continues to sag as the company's key U.S. airline customers restructure their finances. Only a few orders have begun to trickle in, with the majority of them for the company's popular Q400 turboprop.
Bombardier received only 21 regional-jet orders in the latest quarter compared with 34 a year earlier. For the year, there were 87 regional aircraft orders, up slightly from 81 in fiscal 2006. It delivered 112 regional aircraft during the year, down from 138 a year earlier.
Chief Financial Officer Pierre Alary said the growth in business-jet revenue was almost equally offset by the drop in regional-jet revenue in the latest quarter. The growth of the high-margin business jets also helped boost profit margins at the aerospace unit.
The company's once-lackluster rail-equipment business picked up steam in recent months, racking up train contracts from national railways in France, Spain and the Netherlands.
Bombardier's net income in the quarter ended Jan. 31 increased to $112 million, or six cents a share, from $86 million, or five cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 8.7% to $4.39 billion from $4.04 billion a year earlier.
Bombardier's total order backlog stood at $40.7 billion as of Jan. 31, up $9.1 billion from a year ago.
Write to Monica Gutschi at [email protected]
Business-Jet Sales Aid Bombardier
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif]Fourth-Quarter Profit
Shows 30% Increase;
Airline Sales Weaken[/FONT]
[FONT=times new roman,times,serif][FONT=times new roman,times,serif]By MONICA GUTSCHI
March 29, 2007; Page C12[/FONT]
[/FONT]
Bombardier Inc. may have to ramp up its production of business jets as demand for the luxury aircraft continues to grow.
The Montreal maker of planes and trains reported a 30% rise in fiscal fourth-quarter profit as a robust business-jet market offset weaker regional aircraft sales and as business picked up in its rail-equipment unit.
Pierre Beaudoin, president of Bombardier's aerospace unit, said the company will be talking to its suppliers about increasing production of corporate jets, especially its popular Global Express where the backlog is now at 24 months.
Bombardier's Global Express business jet has a 2-year backlog. That is too long for most customers to wait, Mr. Beaudoin said, and is well above the company's target of a maximum 18 months. He said, "The demand for new airplanes is very strong. I don't see the market slowing down at this point."
Backlog for the midsize Challenger series of jets is now 14 months -- compared with a maximum target of 12, while the backlog on the smaller Lear jets is at 11 months compared with a maximum target of nine months.
Bombardier received 274 orders for business jets in fiscal 2007 which ended Jan. 31. That was 55 more than in fiscal 2006, and made up the lion's share of the total order book of 363 aircraft. It had 117 orders for business jets in the latest quarter, compared with 71 a year earlier.
The company delivered 212 business aircraft during the year, compared with 197 in fiscal 2006.
By contrast, the regional-jet market continues to sag as the company's key U.S. airline customers restructure their finances. Only a few orders have begun to trickle in, with the majority of them for the company's popular Q400 turboprop.
Bombardier received only 21 regional-jet orders in the latest quarter compared with 34 a year earlier. For the year, there were 87 regional aircraft orders, up slightly from 81 in fiscal 2006. It delivered 112 regional aircraft during the year, down from 138 a year earlier.
Chief Financial Officer Pierre Alary said the growth in business-jet revenue was almost equally offset by the drop in regional-jet revenue in the latest quarter. The growth of the high-margin business jets also helped boost profit margins at the aerospace unit.
The company's once-lackluster rail-equipment business picked up steam in recent months, racking up train contracts from national railways in France, Spain and the Netherlands.
Bombardier's net income in the quarter ended Jan. 31 increased to $112 million, or six cents a share, from $86 million, or five cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 8.7% to $4.39 billion from $4.04 billion a year earlier.
Bombardier's total order backlog stood at $40.7 billion as of Jan. 31, up $9.1 billion from a year ago.
Write to Monica Gutschi at [email protected]
