Discrete notizie invece sul fronte dei business jets, che costituiscono il segmento più profittevole dell'attività di produzione di aeroplani condotta da Bombardier. La recente trimestrale è stata la prima "backlog positive" da un anno a questa parte per il produttore, nel senso che il numero degli ordini è cresciuto in misura maggiore rispetto alle cancellazioni, così portando ad un irrobustimento degli ordini complessivi almeno per questo segmento della produzione.
In contrazione anche il magazzino, con 14 business jets completati ma non ritirati dalla committenza contro i 16 del trimestre precedente.
La situazione resta ancora abbastanza critica in linea di massima, atteso anche il più volte sottolineato carattere "late cyclical" della produzione aeronautica, l'ultima a risentire delle fasi di calo del ciclo economico, ma anche l'ultima a riprendesi in occasione della sua ripartenza. In pillole, in calce all'articolo, alcuni dati su EBIT margin, FOCF e valore complessivo del backlog nel trimestre Q3/2009-2010.
DECEMBER 3, 2009, 12:37 P.M. ET
UPDATE: Bombardier 3Q Confirms End Of Business-Jet Downturn
By Monica Gutschi
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
For the first time in a year, Bombardier Inc. (BBD.B.T) has received more orders than cancellations for its business jets, the latest and clearest sign that the market for corporate aircraft has stabilized even if growth is still a long ways off.
The Montreal-area aircraft maker said Thursday it received 26 orders for business jets in the third quarter, offset by 24 cancellations. That compares to the second quarter, where it had 38 more cancellations than orders, and the first quarter, where it had 61 cancellations compared to 20 orders.
The news of a small net order for two business jets in the third quarter in fact puts the book-to-bill ratio for corporate aircraft at 0.1, higher than that for commercial aircraft, which stood at nil. The company reported only one order for a regional aircraft in the quarter.
"We are starting to see some signs of recovery," in the business-jet market, Chief Executive Pierre Beaudoin said on a conference call, pointing to greater use of fractional-jet shares as an example.
Benoit Poirier at Desjardins Securities pointed to the positive net orders as a sign the business-jet market "is slowly emerging from the bottom."
As with other business-jet manufacturers, Bombardier has been hit with hundreds of cancellations for its business jets in the past year as companies slashed expenses due to a weak global economy. The drop in demand also created a glut of used planes, pushing prices sharply lower.
Earlier this year it announced it would cut production rates of business jets by 25%, leading to more than 4,000 layoffs.
Bombardier now sees the environment improving, even if demand isn't yet growing.
Guy Hachey, president of the company's aerospace unit, said Thursday that, while he is "encouraged by the activity" the company sees in the business market, sales and usage remain well below that in the 2007-2008 heydays.
Indeed, Bombardier still has 14 unsold finished business jets in inventory, down from 16 at the end of the second quarter. More ominously, most are smaller Lear and Challenger models, whose sales have plummeted far more than the large wide-body Globals.
And while BMO Capital Markets noted the number of pre-owned aircraft Bombardier has sitting on its facilities fell by four during the quarter, to 25, it doesn't include those moved to an off-balance sheet facility. "The overall outlook remains negative," BMO says.
Overall, the aerospace division performed in-line with, or slightly better than, the modest expectations. It delivered 61 aircraft compared with 80 for the same period a year earlier.
Its EBIT margin of 5.0% deteriorated 270 basis points in the quarter, but was better than expected due to foreign-exchange gains. Free cash flow rose to $61 million from $9 million. Backlog fell to $17.3 billion from $22.7 billion.
