Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) amounted to minus 1.9 million euros. The main reason for the loss was the “Interiors” business area, in which the group lost around 4.2 million euros between July and September 2022. The bottom line is a quarterly loss of 9.6 million euros, as can be seen from the interim report published on Wednesday.
In the “Interiors” business area, FACC equips aircraft cabins with luggage compartments above the seats, among other things. The board of directors indicated the problems in the quarterly report and speaks of “ramp up of new projects in the interior area, in what is currently a complex environment”. The high number of new configurations has “negative effects on the learning curves” and the “delay in the supplier change affects the costs”.
Outlook for the full year remains unchanged
In order to increase the profitability of the division, FACC commissioned a new plant in Croatia at the end of 2021. However, the production of components for the interior of an aircraft is still associated with many manual work steps. “Taking into account the wage cost advantage in Croatia, an increase in margins is planned from mid-2023,” the Management Board reported to the shareholders.
In terms of sales, the Interiors Division is FACC’s most important division. In the third quarter, it contributed sales of EUR 62 million, while the other two business areas “Aerostructures” and “Engines & Nacelles” delivered EUR 61.7 million and EUR 25.7 million, respectively. Total sales were EUR 149.5 million, an increase of 26.6 percent compared to the third quarter of 2021.
The FACC Management Board did not touch the outlook for the full year 2022. It remains unchanged with forecast sales growth of around 10 percent to EUR 550 million and EBIT “in the low double-digit million range”. After nine months, the group has an EBIT of 4.2 million euros.
The corona crisis and the effects on the aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus also hit the Upper Austrian supplier hard. FACC continues to assume that pre-crisis sales will not be reached until 2024 or 2025. FACC is 55.5 percent majority owned by the Chinese state-owned armaments group AVIC, the remaining 44.5 percent of the shares are listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange.
Source: Nachrichten
