(Reuters) – Canada’s Bombardier reported a 43 increase in quarterly adjusted profit on Thursday, helped by a recovery in business aviation, as rising COVID-19 vaccinations encourage wealthy travelers to fly again.
Bombardier has emerged as a pure-play business jet maker after divesting assets, including its transportation business to Alstom in January, to pay down debt and boost earnings.
The corporate aircraft maker announced early results on Monday after contesting a bondholder’s claims that its recent sales of non-core assets breach the terms of certain notes.
Montreal-based Bombardier said it would seek bondholders’ consent to amend terms on eight bond issues.
Bombardier’s first-quarter adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) rose to $123 million, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $86 million, a year earlier.
Deliveries of its flagship Global 7500 jets rose to eight aircraft in the quarter from six, a year earlier.
The company said it remains on track to deliver between 110 and 120 business aircraft in 2021. Bombardier’s full-year deliveries fell 20% to 114 jets in 2020.
Business jet revenue increased by 18% to $1.3 billion in the quarter.
(Reporting By Ankit Ajmera in Bangalore and Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
