Dive Brief:
- Spirit AeroSystems’ net revenue moderately improved in the second quarter to $1.6 billion, up 10% from the same period last year, according to an Aug. 5 earnings report.
- The increase was primarily due to higher production activity on most of Boeing’s programs, particularly the 737 and 787 model aircraft.
- However, the company reported a Q2 net loss of $631 million, down 52% over last year, building on a string of losses to start the year. Spirit Aerospace reported a loss of $1.2 billion over the past six months.
Dive Insight:
The majority of the loss resulted from the costs associated with its divestiture deal with Airbus, according to the earnings release. The expected closure of the $439 million Airbus assets sale has been delayed to Q4 due to pending regulatory approvals, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said during a July 30 earnings call.
The Boeing merger deal has also been pushed to Q4, according to Spirit AeroSystems' earnings report. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission requested additional information from the two companies, which extended the waiting period by 30 days after the aircraft makers complied with the agency’s request.
Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems did not disclose what additional information the FTC requested from them. Elsewhere, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority announced on Aug. 8 it has cleared Boeing’s pending acquisition of the fuselage supplier and plans to publish more information on the decision, according to the agency’s website.
Airbus’ pending transaction with Spirit AeroSystems is contingent on its $4.7 billion acquisition agreement with Boeing and the FTC’s antitrust review, Airbus CFO Thomas Toepfer said during the call.
“We obviously would like to close as quickly as possible,” Toepfer said. “And on our side, all the operational preparations that we're taking in terms of taking over management control, in terms of all the transitional service agreements, I think we're making very good progress.”
Airbus and Spirit AeroSystems also amended their memorandum of understanding for the third time, according to a securities filing. The Europe-based aircraft manufacturer agreed to provide an additional $94 million to support the supplier’s production of Airbus’ programs. The company’s funding for Spirit AeroSystems totals $152 million.
Costs to support Airbus’ A220 and A350, as well as Boeing’s 787 aircraft, resulted in a loss of approximately $196 million, which was attributed to fluctuations in foreign exchange rates and production performance, according to Spirit AeroSystems’ earnings. Supply chain costs also increased, which include incurred tariff costs for the 787.
While the manufacturing companies wait for regulatory approval, Spirit AeroSystems continues to make deals regarding its other assets that support Airbus and Boeing. Composites Technology Research Malaysia agreed to pay Spirit AeroSystems $95.2 million for the fuselage supplier’s assets, according to an Aug. 8 press release.
The deal, which has been in the works since last year, includes Spirit AeroSystems’ engineering and manufacturing business, as well as a 400,000-square-foot site that employs over 1,000 employees in Subang, Malaysia. The facility provides aerostructures assembly and service capabilities as well as a supply chain with access to in-region material sourcing and scalability.
The agreement is set to close in Q4. Once the transaction is complete, CTRM will become a key supplier to Europe-based Airbus for their A220, A320 and A350 aircraft programs, as well as Boeing’s 737 and 787 plane programs.
Editor’s note: The story has been updated to include information regarding Spirit AeroSystems’ acquisition approval in the UK and its pending divestiture of its assets in Malaysia.
