Bombardier Reports First Quarter 2021 Financial Results, Affirms Full Year Financial Guidance and Delivery Outlook

• Business jet revenues of $1.3 billion, up 18% year-over-year, mainly driven by a favourable mix of large-cabin aircraft deliveries, including eight Global 7500 aircraft
• Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ from continuing operations of $123 million, up 43% year-over-year, reflecting an improved aircraft mix, Global 7500 aircraft learning curve progress and cost structure improvements; adjusted EBIT⁽¹⁾ from continuing operations of $29 million. Reported EBIT from continuing operations for the quarter was $19 million
• Free cash flow usage⁽¹⁾ from continuing operations of $405 million, including ~ $100 million of non-recurring cash items⁽²⁾, an improvement of $357 million year-over-year. Reported cash flows from operating activities – continuing operations for the quarter was a usage of $372 million and net additions to PPE & intangible assets – continuing operations for the quarter were $33 million
• First quarter book-to-bill⁽³⁾ > 1.0 on strong sales activity, which is expected to continue⁽⁴⁾ into the second quarter
• Strong pro-forma liquidity⁽⁴⁾ of $2.6 billion, which includes $0.6 billion in proceeds from sale of Alstom shares. Bombardier has deployed ~ $2.4 billion toward balance sheet deleveraging year-to-date, expected to reduce annual cash interest costs by ~ $200 million versus its 2020 debt servicing cost

All amounts in this press release are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated.
Amounts in tables are in millions, unless otherwise indicated.

Bombardier (TSX: BBD.B) announced today its financial results for the first quarter of 2021 and affirmed its full year 2021 financial guidance and delivery expectations of 110-120 aircraft.   

“In our first quarter as a pure-play business aviation company, Bombardier delivered solid financial performance,” said Éric Martel, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bombardier. “This includes growth in business jet revenues, margin expansion and significantly improved cash performance. We also continue to make strong progress on each of our strategic priorities: maturing the Global 7500 aircraft program, delivering on our productivity initiative, executing our aftermarket growth strategy and deleveraging our balance sheet – setting the foundation for a more resilient and profitable business.”

First Quarter 2021 Financial Performance

Business jet revenues during the first quarter of 2021 totalled $1.3 billion, an 18% year-over-year increase. This increase was mainly driven by an improved mix of large-cabin aircraft deliveries, including eight Global 7500 aircraft. Total aircraft deliveries in the quarter equalled 26, in line with expectations and the company’s full-year delivery targets. Order activity in the quarter was strong, resulting in a book-to-bill ratio of greater than 1.0. Robust sales activity and positive market trends are expected to continue⁽⁵⁾ into the second quarter. 

Adjusted EBITDA for continuing operations in the quarter was $123 million, a 43% increase year-over-year, reflecting a favourable aircraft mix, progress on the Global 7500 aircraft learning curve, cost structure improvements and the divestitures of margin dilutive businesses. Adjusted EBIT for continuing operations was $29 million.

First-quarter free cash usage for continued operations totalled $405 million, including approximately $100 million of non-recurring cash items, representing a $357 million year-over-year improvement. 

Balance Sheet Deleveraging Actions

As previously disclosed by Bombardier, the sale of its Transportation business was completed on January 29, 2021. Since the divestiture of Bombardier Transportation, Bombardier has deployed approximately $2.4 billion of liquidity, including proceeds from the Transportation sale, toward deleveraging its balance sheet. This includes the full repayment of the total outstanding balance of $750 million drawn on the $1.0 billion senior secured term loan facility with HPS Investment Partners, LLC and the recently concluded approximately $1.6 billion tender offer to purchase certain outstanding notes. Together, these actions are expected to reduce the company’s annual cash interest costs by approximately $200 million versus its 2020 debt servicing cost. 

The company continues to consider various options to address other debt maturities in an opportunistic manner, with a focus on clearing a three-year runway providing the company with a path to execute its strategy.

Affirming Full Year 2021 Guidance and 2025 Objectives

“With our solid performance in the first quarter, and our markets in recovery and key initiatives well underway, we remain confident in our ability to deliver on both our full-year financial guidance and longer-term objectives,” Martel continued. “This includes: (i) diversifying the company’s revenue mix by growing aftermarket services to ~ 27% of revenues by 2025; (ii) achieving a 20% reduction in Global 7500 aircraft unit costs between the 50th and 100th aircraft delivery; and (iii) obtaining $400 million in recurring savings by 2023. Through these actions, we work on transforming Bombardier into a more predictable, profitable and resilient company.”

Selected Results (PDF)

bps: basis points

nmf: information not meaningful

1. Non-GAAP financial measures. Refer to the Non-GAAP financial measures section in Overview for definitions of these metrics and to the Analysis of consolidated results section and Liquidity and capital resources section in Overview for reconciliations to the most comparable IFRS measures.
2. Non-recurring cash items include the impact of winding down the reverse factoring programs, payments of residual value guarantee liability and restructuring costs.
3. Ratio of new aircraft orders in units over aircraft deliveries in units.
4. Non-GAAP measure. Pro-forma liquidity is defined as cash and cash equivalents as at March 31, 2021 of $3.2 billion, plus approximately $0.6 billion of Alstom shares, plus $0.4 billion of short-term restricted cash as collateral for bank guarantees, and less $1.6 billion paid to repurchase certain outstanding Notes in April 2021.
5. See the forward-looking statements disclaimer.
6. Restated for the sale of Transportation, refer to Note 17 – Disposal of business to our Interim consolidated financial statements for more details. 
7. Includes continuing operations only.
8. Defined as cash and cash equivalents as at March 31, 2021; defined as cash and cash equivalents including cash and cash equivalents from Transportation plus the undrawn amounts under Transportation’s revolving credit facility and our senior secured term loan as at December 31, 2020.
9. Includes order backlog for both manufacturing and services.

CAUTION REGARDING NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

This press release is based on reported earnings in accordance with IFRS and on the following non-GAAP financial measures:

Non-GAAP financial measures
Adjusted EBIT	EBIT excluding special items. Special items comprise items which do not reflect the Corporation’s  core performance or where their separate presentation will assist users of the consolidated financial statements in understanding the Corporation’s results for the period. Such items include, among others, the impact of restructuring charges, impact of business disposals and significant impairment charges and reversals.
Adjusted EBITDA	Adjusted EBIT plus amortization and impairment charges on PP&E and intangible assets.
Adjusted net income (loss)	Net income (loss) excluding special items, accretion on net retirement benefit obligations, certain net gains and losses arising from changes in measurement of provisions and of financial instruments carried at FVTP&L and the related tax impacts of these items.
Free cash flow (usage)	Cash flows from operating activities less net additions to PP&E and intangible assets.

Non-GAAP financial measures are mainly derived from the consolidated financial statements but do not have standardized meanings prescribed by IFRS. The exclusion of certain items from non-GAAP performance measures does not imply that these items are necessarily non-recurring. Other entities in our industry may define the above measures differently than we do. In those cases, it may be difficult to compare the performance of those entities to ours based on these similarly-named non-GAAP measures.

Adjusted EBIT, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income (loss)
Management uses adjusted EBIT, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income (loss) for purposes of evaluating underlying business performance. Management believes these non-GAAP earnings measures in addition to IFRS measures provide users of our Financial Report with enhanced understanding of our results and related trends and increases the transparency and clarity of the core results of our business. Adjusted EBIT, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income (loss) exclude items that do not reflect our core performance or where their exclusion will assist users in understanding our results for the period. For these reasons, a significant number of users of the MD&A analyze our results based on these financial measures. Management believes these measures help users of MD&A to better analyze results, enabling better comparability of our results from one period to another and with peers.

Free cash flow (usage) 

Free cash flow is defined as cash flows from operating activities less net additions to PP&E and intangible assets. Management believes that this non-GAAP cash flow measure provides investors with an important perspective on the Corporation’s generation of cash available for shareholders, debt repayment, and acquisitions after making the capital investments required to support ongoing business operations and long-term value creation. This non-GAAP cash flow measure does not represent the residual cash flow available for discretionary expenditures as it excludes certain mandatory expenditures such as repayment of maturing debt. Management uses free cash flow as a measure to assess both business performance and overall liquidity generation.

Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable IFRS financial measures are provided in the table hereafter, except for the following reconciliations:

• adjusted EBIT to EBIT – see the Consolidated results of operations section; and
• free cash flow usage to cash flows from operating activities – see the Free cash flow usage table in the Liquidity and capital resources section in the MD&A.

Reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to EBIT⁽¹⁾

	Three-month periods ended March 31
	2021	2020
EBIT	$19	$105
Amortization	94	77
Impairment charges on PP&E and intangible assets(2)	3	11
Special items excluding impairment charges on PP&E and intangible assets(2)	7	(107)
Adjusted EBITDA	$123	$86

1. Includes continuing operations only.
2. Refer to the Consolidated results of operations section for details regarding special items.

SALE OF THE TRANSPORTATION BUSINESS TO ALSTOM SA

On September 16, 2020, the Corporation, Alstom and CDPQ and certain related parties signed a definitive sale and purchase agreement for the sale of the Transportation business through the sale of the entire issued share capital of BT Holdco (“SPA”). On January 29, 2021, the Corporation closed the sale of the Transportation business to Alstom. 

See Note 21 – Commitments and contingencies, to our interim consolidated financial statements, for more information regarding the indemnities and guarantees related to the sale of Transportation.

The transaction resulted in a gain of $5,321 million reflected in net income from discontinued operations.

For details, refer to Note 17 – Disposal of businesses, to our interim consolidated financial statements.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release includes forward-looking statements, which may involve, but are not limited to: statements with respect to our objectives, anticipations and outlook or guidance in respect of various financial and global metrics and sources of contribution thereto, targets, goals, priorities, market and strategies, financial position, financial performance, market position, capabilities, competitive strengths, credit ratings, beliefs, prospects, plans, expectations, anticipations, estimates and intentions; general economic and business outlook, prospects and trends of an industry; customer value; expected demand for products and services; growth strategy; product development, including projected design, characteristics, capacity or performance; expected or scheduled entry-into-service of products and services, orders, deliveries, testing, lead times, certifications and execution of orders in general; competitive position; expectations regarding revenue and backlog mix; the expected impact of the legislative and regulatory environment and legal proceedings; strength of capital profile and balance sheet, creditworthiness, available liquidities and capital resources, expected financial requirements, and ongoing review of strategic and financial alternatives; the introduction of, productivity enhancements, operational efficiencies, cost reduction and restructuring initiatives, and anticipated costs, intended benefits and timing thereof; the anticipated business transition to growth cycle and cash generation; expectations, objectives and strategies regarding debt repayment, refinancing of maturities and interest cost reduction; expectations regarding availability of government assistance programs, compliance with restrictive debt covenants; expectations regarding the declaration and payment of dividends on our preferred shares; intentions and objectives for our programs, assets and operations; and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the foregoing and the effectiveness of plans and measures we have implemented in response thereto; and expectations regarding gradual market and economic recovery in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. As it relates to the sale of the Transportation business to Alstom, this press release also contains forward-looking statements with respect to the benefits of such transaction, the use of the proceeds derived from the transaction and its impact on our outlook, guidance and targets, operations, infrastructure, opportunities, financial condition, business plan and overall strategy.

Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “may”, “will”, “shall”, “can”, “expect”, “estimate”, “intend”, “anticipate”, “plan”, “foresee”, “believe”, “continue”, “maintain” or “align”, the negative of these terms, variations of them or similar terminology. Forward-looking statements are presented for the purpose of assisting investors and others in understanding certain key elements of our current objectives, strategic priorities, expectations, outlook and plans, and in obtaining a better understanding of our business and anticipated operating environment. Readers are cautioned that such information may not be appropriate for other purposes.

By their nature, forward-looking statements require management to make assumptions and are subject to important known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause our actual results in future periods to differ materially from forecast results set forth in forward-looking statements. While management considers these assumptions to be reasonable and appropriate based on information currently available, there is risk that they may not be accurate. The assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements made in this press release include the following material assumptions: the deployment of the proceeds from the sale of the Transportation business to Alstom on terms allowing the Corporation, when combined to other financing sources and free cash flow generation, to repay or otherwise manage its various maturities for the next three years; growth of the business aviation market and increase of the Corporation’s share of such market; proper identification of recurring cost savings and executing on our cost reduction plan; optimization of our real estate portfolio, including through the sale or other transaction in respect of real estate assets on favorable terms; and access to working capital facilities on market terms. For additional information, including with respect to other assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements made in this press release, refer to the Forward-looking statements — Assumptions section in the MD&A of our financial report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 which may be viewed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Given the impact of the changing circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and the related response from the Corporation, governments (federal, provincial and municipal), regulatory authorities, businesses, suppliers, customers, counterparties and third-party service providers, there is inherently more uncertainty associated with the Corporation’s assumptions as compared to prior years.

Certain factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, risks associated with general economic conditions, risks associated with our business environment (such as risks associated with the financial condition of business aircraft customers; trade policy; increased competition; political instability and force majeure events or global climate change), operational risks (such as risks related to developing new products and services; development of new business ; order backlog; the transition to a pure-play business aviation company; the certification of products and services; the execution of orders; pressures on cash flows and capital expenditures based on seasonality and cyclicality; execution of our strategy, productivity enhancements, operational efficiencies, restructuring and cost reduction initiatives; doing business with partners; product performance warranty and casualty claim losses; regulatory and legal proceedings; environmental, health and safety risks; dependence on certain customers, contracts and suppliers; supply chain risks; human resources; reliance on information systems; reliance on and protection of intellectual property rights; reputation risks; risk management; tax matters; and adequacy of insurance coverage), financing risks (such as risks related to liquidity and access to capital markets; retirement benefit plan risk; exposure to credit risk; substantial debt and interest payment requirements; restrictive debt covenants; reliance on debt management and interest cost reduction strategies; and reliance on government support), market risks (such as foreign currency fluctuations; changing interest rates; increases in commodity prices; and inflation rate fluctuations). For more details, see the Risks and uncertainties section in Other in the MD&A which may be viewed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Any one or more of the foregoing factors may be exacerbated by the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak and may have a significantly more severe impact on the Corporation’s business, results of operations and financial condition than in the absence of such outbreak. As a result of the current COVID-19 pandemic, additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: risks related to the impact and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on economic conditions and financial markets and the resulting impact on our business, operations, capital resources, liquidity, financial condition, margins, prospects and results; uncertainty regarding the magnitude and length of economic disruption as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak and the resulting effects on the demand environment for our products and services; uncertainty regarding market and economic recovery in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic; emergency measures and restrictions imposed by public health authorities or governments, fiscal and monetary policy responses by governments and financial institutions; disruptions to global supply chain, customers, workforce, counterparties and third-party service providers; further disruptions to operations, orders and deliveries; technology, privacy, cyber security and reputational risks; and other unforeseen adverse events.

Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors that may affect future growth, results and performance is not exhaustive and undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. Other risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we presently believe are not material could also cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements set forth herein reflect management’s expectations as at the date of this press release and are subject to change after such date. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, we expressly disclaim any intention, and assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement