Boeing sales in Q4 strong but taxes hit net earnings

Meanwhile, the company's chief executive said the company was focused on solving the battery problem that grounded its newest aircraft, the 787 Dreamliner, worldwide.

“Our first order of business for 2013 is to resolve the battery issue on the 787 and return the airplanes safely to service with our customers,” said Boeing chairman and CEO Jim McNerney.

Net earnings for the quarter came in at US$978 million, compared to US$1.39 billion a year earlier, when earnings were buoyed by a favorable one-off tax settlement.

But sales jumped 16.7 percent to US$19.79 billion, and net earnings before tax gained 6.3 percent to US$1.54 billion from the year-earlier quarter.

Earnings per share came in at US$1.28 compared to US$1.84 a year earlier; “core” earnings per share, after the tax gain of a year earlier is stripped out, were US$1.46, well above analysts' forecasts.

For the full year Boeing net earnings came in at US$3.9 billion, down from US$4.0 billion in 2011. While total revenues grew nearly US$13 billion to US$81.7 billion, operating and production costs rose faster, keeping net gains flat.

But core earnings per share were US$5.88, better than the US$5.01 analysts had predicted.

The company said that, after delivering more than 600 aircraft last year, it had a record backlog of orders worth US$390 billion going into 2013, both for civilian aircraft and in the defense and security sector.

“We remain focused on our ongoing priorities of profitable ramp up in commercial airplane production, successful execution of our development programs, and continued growth in core, adjacent and international defense and space markets,” said McNerney.

SHARE CLOSE
Blogger		Google+
Live Journal		Plurk
Stumble Upon

Tweet

	PREVIOUS ARTICLE
	Dutch court holds Shell responsible for oil leaks

NEXT ARTICLE
Euro, shares rise ahead of US Fed Reserve decision

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email

Submit