Bell Textron Q1 revenues up, commercial deliveries fall

Bell Textron's Bell 407.

Bell Textron announced $1.1bn in first quarter revenue, up by 9% year-over-year from the first quarter of last year driven by its military segment.

Commercial revenues were $275m, down $74m compared with the first quarter of 2025, as helicopters, parts and services revenues decreased mainly due to lower volume and mix.

Bell delivered 20 commercial helicopters in the quarter, down from 29 in last year’s first quarter.

Discussing the lower deliveries from last year, Textron chief financial officer David Rosenberg attributed them to the: “timing of deliveries and contract milestones. Some of that was just delays in finishing up the last couple of helicopters for the quarter”.

The manufacturer expects “the commercial side … to normalise out throughout the year, not too dissimilar to patterns … in the last couple of years with a peak in Q4”, he added.

Segment profit of $72m was down $18m from last year’s first quarter, largely reflecting an unfavourable impact from the mix of military programmes and lower commercial volume and mix.

Lisa Atherton, CEO, Textron said in an earnings call yesterday: “Our sizable backlog illustrates the market demand for our products is significant and continuing to grow. Looking ahead, we are focused on increasing our operational efficiency and performance to drive growth and enhance profitability. We will do this by reallocating some of our R&D investment into our supply chains and factories.”

Bell’s backlog at the end of the first quarter was $7.6bn. The company said the quarter saw purchase order of seven 407s from the National Transmission Company of South Africa. Also earlier this month, the manufacturer signed purchase agreements for three Bell 429s with VIP operators in the UK and Estonia.

Meanwhile,  this week Airbus Helicopter posted flat Q1 revenues despite increased deliveries.