Bell Textron shows $9m profit in Q3 2020

Bell 525 Ship 15 62015 Air to Air 25. Courtesy of Bell.

Helicopter manufacturer Bell’s parent company Textron announced its third quarter results for 2020, which saw the segment total $119m – a profit of $9m compared with the same period in 2019.

Bell segment revenues stood at $793m, up $10m from last year on higher military revenues, the company reported. It saw lower commercial revenues due to the mix of aircraft sold.

Q3 saw Bell deliver 41 commercial helicopters, down from 42 last year, while backlog at the end of the third quarter was $5.7bn.

Textron Aviation revenues were at $795m for Q3, down $406m from last year. It also made lower deliveries in both jets and commercial turboprops.

Textron’s net income for the quarter is $0.50 per share, compared to $0.95 per share in the third quarter of 2019. The company saw a drop in total revenue from $3.2bn in 2019 to $2.7bn.

“Operationally, we saw continued strength in our execution at our defence businesses with solid margin performance at Bell and Systems,” said Textron chairman and CEO Scott C. Donnelly. “At aviation, we were encouraged by the flow of aircraft orders in the quarter as our sales teams re-engaged customers in the field.”

Net cash through operating activities was showed $368m, compared to $238m in last year’s third quarter.