Textron profits fall 34% on poor jet sales

TEXTRON'S bottom line fell 34.3 percent during the second quarter of 2013. / COURTESY CESSNA AIRCRAFT COMPANY
TEXTRON'S bottom line fell 34.3 percent during the second quarter of 2013. / COURTESY CESSNA AIRCRAFT COMPANY

PROVIDENCE – Textron Inc. – parent of Bell Helicopter, Cessna Aircraft Co. and Textron Systems – posted net income of $113 million, or 40 cents per diluted share, during the second quarter of 2013, a 34.3 percent decrease from the $172 million, or 58 cents per diluted share, posted during the second quarter of 2012.
The diversified manufacturer and finance company saw revenue fall 5.96 percent percent during the quarter to $2.83 billion. Manufacturing revenue alone totaled $2.81 billion, a 5.2 percent drop from manufacturing revenue reported for the second quarter of 2012.

Profits fell in the Cessna, Bell, Textron Systems segments during the three months ended June 29. The Cessna segment reported a loss of $50 million, compared with a segment profit of $35 million during the same quarter last year. Bell Helicopter’s segment profit fell 11.1 percent from $152 million in the second quarter of 2012 to $135 million during the 2013 second quarter. Profit for Textron Systems fell 15 percent from $40 million to $34 million during the quarter.
The company’s Industrial segment was the only area to see profit rise, posting a 29.5 percent increase from $61 million during the second quarter of 2012 to $79 million during the second quarter of 2013.
“Despite weakness in European markets, we saw solid growth at Textron Systems and our Industrial businesses, as well as continued strong commercial orders at Bell,” Textron Chairman and CEO Scott C. Donnelly said in prepared remarks. “On the other hand, business jet demand continued to be soft, but we believe the cost, production and pricing actions we took are the right actions to support future growth at Cessna.”
For the first half of 2013, Textron saw its bottom line fall 20 percent to $232 million, or 81 cents per diluted share. The company reported a revenue decrease of 3.1 percent from $5.9 billion during the first six months of 2012 to $5.7 billion during the first six months of 2013.

Textron confirmed its 2013 guidance for earnings per share from continuing operations at $1.90 to $2.10. Cash flow from continuing operations of the manufacturing group before pension contributions is expected to generate roughly $400 million, with pension contributions of roughly $200 million. Through the first six months of the year, cash flow from manufacturing operations (without mention of pension contributions) has used $742 million.

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