Tag: Honeywell (Page 3 of 3)

Honeywell Profit Beats On Strong Aero & Automation Sales

October 19, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

(Reuters) – Honeywell International Inc (HON.N) beat expectations for third-quarter profit on Friday and lifted its full-year forecasts for cash flow and margins as it rode a boom in e-commerce driven warehouse investment and aircraft production.

Shares of Honeywell, which makes everything from aircraft engines to catalysts used in petroleum refining, were up 2.5 percent at $159 in premarket trading.

Honeywell has benefited from a rise in global travel that has driven record orders for jets, leading to robust demand for its avionics, braking systems and other aircraft parts.

Recovering demand for business jets, for which the company makes engines, thanks to a tax windfall handed to Corporate America by President Donald Trump in January, has also helped the company.

Sales at the aviation unit, the company’s biggest business, rose 10 percent to $4.03 billion. Margins expanded by 80 basis points to 22.1 percent in the third quarter ended Sept. 30.

Honeywell’s results come a day after Cessna jet maker Textron (TXT.N), one of its customers, reported a 12.5 percent growth in its backlog at $1.8 billion, citing an improving business jet market.

The company has also taken advantage of a boom in e-commerce as it supplies warehouse automation equipment and software to customers such as Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O).

Sales in safety and productivity solutions unit, which houses the warehouse automation business, climbed 11 percent to $1.58 billion, while margins jumped 150 basis points to 16.6 percent.

Excluding items, Honeywell earned $2.03 per share, beating analysts’ average estimate of $1.99 per share, according to Refinitiv data.

The company’s revenue rose 6.3 percent to $10.76 billion, topping the consensus of $10.75 billion.

Honeywell increased the low end of its 2018 adjusted free cash flow to $5.8 billion from $5.6 billion, while keeping the top end unchanged at $6.2 billion.

The company now expects full-year margins to rise 19.5-19-6 percent, up from 19.4-19.6 percent. Excluding the impact of divestitures, Honeywell said its full-year earnings will be in a range of $7.95 to $8.00 per share.

(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

Gulfstream Expects Business Jet Market Growth In 2019

October 17, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) – Gulfstream Aerospace expects growth in both sales opportunities and deliveries next year, as the U.S. business jet maker brings two new large-cabin corporate planes to market, company President Mark Burns said on Wednesday.

Burns said in an interview that the entry into service of the company’s new G500 and G600 business jets will drive market growth for Gulfstream, a division of General Dynamics Corp. (GD.N)

“I expect next year will be a growth year,” he said on the sidelines of the National Business Aviation Association annual corporate jet show in Orlando, Florida. “We’re bringing two new airplanes to market at a time when the market is improving.”

After years of sluggish sales, potential buyers at the show are looking closely at new aircraft models with longer ranges and technology for smoother rides, while weighing the advantage of recent U.S. tax deductions. Hopes for new orders in the industry have also been underpinned by a dwindling supply of pre-owned aircraft.

Burns said he is confident that Gulfstream will meet its existing 2018 plans to deliver between 115 to 125 planes this year, although he could not be more specific ahead of the company’s third-quarter earnings report next week.

The G500 was certified in July and its first delivery was made in September. The slightly larger G600, which can fly nonstop from London to Los Angeles, is expected to be certified by year’s end and enter service in 2019.

A 10-year outlook by Honeywell Aerospace (HON.N) ahead of the convention forecasts up to 7,700 new business jet deliveries worth $251 billion from 2019 to 2028, up 1 percent to 2 percent from the 10-year forecast in 2017.

(Reporting By Allison Lampert; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Electric Airplane Startup Zunum Chooses Safran Engine

October 4, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Aircraft manufacturer Zunum, backed by Boeing Co, will use an engine turbine from France’s Safran SA to power an electric motor for the hybrid regional airplane it aims to bring into service in 2022, the company said on Thursday.

Zunum, based near Seattle, is among several companies seeking to reduce emissions, noise and travel costs with electric planes, underscoring growing investment in lightweight propulsion systems to bring the benefits of electric-cars to the sky.

Siemens AG, Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC, and Airbus SA joined forces last year on a hybrid electric aircraft propulsion system, while Honeywell International Inc has developed a high-capacity generator that could be used for electric flight.

Zunum, which is also funded by JetBlue Airways Corp’s investment arm, will offer its 12-seat, 700-mile aircraft – dubbed the ZA10 – to charter airlines, private companies and regional carriers globally, starting in 2022.

Zunum’s planes will be battery powered, with a jetfuel-powered turbogenerator to extend range. It chose the Safran Helicopter Engines’ Ardiden 3Z turbine over competing turbines from General Electric, Honeywell, Pratt & Whitney, and Rolls Royce.

The ZA10 will cost less than $300 million to develop, compared to the billions of dollars required to bring a traditional regional jet to market, Zunum’s Chief Executive Officer Ashish Kumar told Reuters.

Norway in June tested a two-seater electric plane, built by Pipistrel in Slovenia, and predicted a start to passenger flights by 2025 as the country moves to reach a government goal of making all domestic flights in Norway electric by 2040.

“This is the future,” Kumar said. “This class of aircraft is going to replace conventional airplanes over these (short-haul) distances.”

Siemens’ e-aircraft unit told Reuters earlier this year its system will work like a Toyota Prius: a gas-fueled engine inside the plane will spin a generator, sending electricity to small propulsion motors on the wings.

In Zunum’s plane, those motors are powered by the battery packs and the turbogenerator installed near the rear of the fuselage.

Kumar said the new aircraft will deliver operating costs of 8 cents per available seat mile or $250 per hour, which is 60-80 percent lower than comparable conventional aircraft.

Zunum’s prototype motor is due to be tested in early December, with an improved version flying on a test aircraft in summer 2019, Kumar said. Conversely, the Airbus, Siemens, Rolls-Royce system is scheduled to begin test flights in 2020.

(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle)

Image from https://zunum.aero/

Boeing and Safran Push Into Aircraft Services

June 4, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

(Reuters) – Planemaker Boeing Co (BA.N) will partner with French aerospace firm Safran SA (SAF.PA) to make and service aircraft auxiliary power units as it uses some its profit from record jet sales to push into other lucrative aerospace segments.

Boeing and rival Airbus SE (AIR.PA) are branching into more profitable services, in a bid to emulate the wider margins of third party suppliers who traditionally control the market for repairs and services.

Safran already makes APUs, which are used to start aircraft engines and run other systems, and competes with Honeywell International Inc (HON.N) and United Technologies Corp (UTX.N) – the two leading manufacturers of such power units.

“This move will strengthen Boeing’s vertical capabilities as we continue to expand our services portfolio and make strategic investments that accelerate our growth plans,” Boeing Chief Financial Officer Greg Smith said.

The alliance with Safran comes about a month after the world’s biggest planemaker said it would buy aerospace parts company KLX Inc (KLXI.O) to expand its aircraft services business.

The partnership will not affect Safran and Boeing’s 2018 forecasts and plans to return cash to their shareholders.

Safran currently supplies a wide range of components to Boeing’s commercial and defense programs. It also has a partnership with General Electric Co (GE.N) to make LEAP-1B engines for Boeing’s 737 MAX.

Boeing has been riding on strong demand for commercial jets, selling a record number of jets in 2017. In April, the company raised its full-year earnings and cash flow forecasts.

(Reporting by Arunima Banerjee in Bengaluru and Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

United Technologies and Honeywell to Merge?

February 23, 2016 / WIL BALDWIN

United Technologies and Honeywell are reportedly discussing a merger once again, according to a report by CNBC. The talks reportedly came within the last two weeks, with Honeywell acquiring United Technologies. This is not the first time that the two companies have held merger talks over the course of the last year. Honeywell and United Technologies declined to comment on the report.

United Technologies and Honeywell Business synergies

United Technologies makes jet engines, elevators, and heating and cooling equipment. It reported a profit of $7.6 billion last year on sales of $56.1 billion. Honeywell is involved with aerospace, along with oil and gas refining, petrochemicals, biofuelsproducts, and building systems equipment. The company reported net income of $4.8 billion on revenue of $38.6 billion last year. United Technologies has been shifted its business mix over the course of the last four years. It purchase Goodrich Corporation for $16.5 billion in 2012, the biggest deal ever for United Technologies. The company also divested its Sikorsky helicopter subsidiary, selling the unit to Lockheed Martin last year for $9 billion. A merger between the two would potentially face tough scrutiny from regulators in the United States and Europe. The reasons behind the merger talks may very well be business cost savings in the areas where the two companies business’s overlap. The two companies both compete in engine systems & controls and helicopters & general aviation aircraft engines.

United Technologies and Honeywell