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WICHITA — Spirit AeroSystems on Thursday reported lower revenue but higher net income in the second quarter of 2012.
Spirit said in a news release that revenue for the quarter ended June 30 was $1.34 billion, compared with $1.47 billion in the same quarter a year ago, a 9 percent decrease.
Net income, however was up $5 million to $35 million in the second quarter of 2012. In the second quarter of 2011 net income was $30 million.
The company’s backlog totaled more than $32 billion at the end of the quarter.
“Overall, this quarter exemplifies how Spirit AeroSystems is well positioned to meet the demand for large aircraft as we are focused on continued reliability, capability, and teamwork to align the business for long-term value creation,” Spirit president and CEO Jeff Turner said in the release.
Spirit employees successfully restored production to the plant during the quarter after the Wichita plant took a direct hit from an EF-3 tornado April 14, damaging more than 40 buildings, disrupting utilities and causing an eight-day suspension of operations.
That took “extraordinary effort and teamwork,” Turner said in a statement.
Spirit’s insurance claim from the damage is estimated at about $400 million.
The company is working with insurers to determine the applicable deductibles related to the damage.
“Considering that Spirit’s Wichita plant was trashed by the tornado only a couple of months ago, this is a very good quarter from the company,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Robert Stallard wrote in a report. “The impact of weather on customer shipments appears to have been minimal.”
This year continues to be a transitional one for Spirit, as the company works to achieve production rate increases on core programs, such as the Boeing 737, and transition new programs from development to production, Turner told analysts on a conference call Thursday.
For example, Spirit is moving to increase 787 Dreamliner production to five a month and will increase production again next year.
“Clearly, any rate increase is a challenging endeavor,” Turner said.
It requires focus from the company’s operations team and its supply chain.
Spirit is also planning for the introduction of the 787-9 derivative of the 787.
The 787 program carries the most risk for Spirit, followed by the Airbus A350 program, the 747-8 and finally, the Gulfstream 280 and 650.
“All of them, we work aggressively,” Turner said.
The company expects to post $5.2 billion to $5.4 billion in revenue for 2012. That’s based on Boeing’s forecasted deliveries of 585 to 600 airplanes, expected B787 ship set deliveries and expected Airbus deliveries of about 580 planes, internal forecasts for other customer production activities, non-production revenues and foreign exchange rates consistent with those in the first half of the year, according to statements from the company.
The forecast excludes the impact of the tornado.
Contributing: Jerry Siebenmark of The Eagle
