MONTREAL — In the face of tariffs, trade uncertainty and a potential recession, Bombardier Inc. chief executive Éric Martel is feeling upbeat.
He pointed on Thursday to the business jet maker's "strong start to the year" and a bright financial outlook that foresees higher revenue, profits and plane deliveries this year.
The Montreal-based company expects to crank out more than 150 aircraft in 2025 versus 146 last year.
Martel also anticipates a revenue boost of at least seven per cent to more than US$9.25 billion and an adjusted earnings increase of 14 per cent to more than US$1.55 billion.
The confident tone marks a striking change from three months ago, when Bombardier held off on giving financial guidance due to the uncertainty posed by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats.
"We need to exercise caution until we see how this all unfolds," Martel said on Feb. 6, adding that he was "very disappointed" he could not provide targets.
Since then, Bombardier has achieved "tariff clarity," he told analysts on a conference call Thursday.
Its planes comply with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, exempting them for now from 25 per cent tariffs, the CEO said.
Its book-to-bill ratio — a measure of orders received to sales billed, a key indicator of near-term demand for a company’s services — dipped only slightly to 90 per cent in its latest quarter.
Concern around 25 per cent duties on steel and aluminum imports into the U.S. have plagued the aerospace sector in recent months, but Martel said any extra costs were factored into its forecast.
"Bombardier and business aviation as a whole are resilient. There are dozens if not hundreds of major international trade deals to be done around the world in the immediate future," he said.
On Thursday, Bombardier reported a first-quarter profit of US$44 million, down from US$110 million the year before.
Revenue in the three months ended March 31 rose 19 per cent to US$1.52 billion from US$1.28 billion in the same period a year earlier, the company said.
On an adjusted basis, it earned 61 cents US per share versus last year's 36 cents US per share. However, the outcome notched lower than analysts' expectations of 66 cents US per share, according to financial markets firm LSEG Data & Analytics.
The company's order backlog ticked down one per cent to US$14.2 billion.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 1, 2025.
Companies in this story: (TSX:BBD.B)
Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press
