BOMBARDIER: Announcing Bombardier Inc’s annual results for the year to December 31 2016, President & CEO Alain Bellemare said on February 16 that the company’s turnaround plan was ‘in full motion’.
‘In 2016, Bombardier delivered on its financial commitments’, he said. ‘We met our programme milestones and we’ve positioned the company to achieve all of the financial goals in our five-year turnaround plan, including being cash flow break-even in 2018.’
The Bombardier Transportation business, which includes the company’s rail activities, reported revenue of US$7·57bn, with the 9% reduction on the previous year being mainly attributed to ‘active project management resulting in the continued deferral of certain revenue under long-term contract accounting’.
There was a ‘strong’ order intake of US$8·5bn across all Transportation product segments and geographic regions, down 3% on 2015, with a steady book-to-bill ratio of 1·1 and the December 31 backlog of US$30·1bn down 1% on the previous year. EBIT earnings were down 15% at US$396m, while EBIT margin before special items of 7·4% exceeded guidance, the company said.
Bombardier Inc’s overall revenue of US$16·3bn was down from US$18·2bn in 2015, but the net loss of US$981m was reduced from US$5·34bn the previous year. The company exceeded its 2016 guidance for EBIT before special items, improved year-on-year cash performance by US$778m and delivered approximately 200 basis points of margin improvement at its Transportation, Business Aircraft and Aerostructures segments.
Looking forward, the company expects to resume revenue growth in the low-single digits during 2017, driven by an increase in Transportation revenues and an acceleration of C Series aircraft deliveries.
‘As we begin 2017, we are confident in our strategy, our turnaround plan and in our ability to unleash the full value of the Bombardier portfolio’, said Bellemare. ‘We remain focused on improving operational efficiency, flawlessly ramping up our new programmes and maintaining a disciplined and proactive approach to deliver value to customers and shareholders in any market environment.’
