Hexcel has reported Q4 2016 results of diluted EPS of US$0.64 on net sales of US$483.5 million. For the full year, the company reported record diluted EPS of US$2.65 (adjusted diluted EPS of US$2.58) on net sales of US$2,004.3 million.
Commercial aerospace sales accounted for 71% of total 2016 sales and were about 11% higher than last year in constant currency. The sales of US$349.9 million increased 7.2% (7.6% in constant currency) for the quarter when compared to Q4 2015. Sales attributed to new aircraft programs (B787, A350 XWB, A320neo and B737 MAX) increased nearly 40% over the same period last year with the A350 XWB shipments leading the growth. New program sales increased more than 40% for the year, while Airbus and Boeing legacy aircraft decreased approximately 8% driven by declines in legacy wide-body production and the transition from the legacy narrowbodies to new programs (A320neo and B737 MAX).
Fourth quarter space and defense sales of US$79.1 million were 4.8% lower (4.2% in constant currency) than the fourth quarter of 2015. For the year, constant currency sales were 4.6% lower than 2015 with the declines for the quarter and the year primarily driven by lower rotorcraft sales. Rotorcraft now accounts for about 50% of space and defense sales, with more than 85% coming from military sales as commercial rotorcraft sales have significantly declined in recent years. pace and defense sales in 2017 are expected to be stable compared with 2016, including both commercial and military rotorcraft.
Total industrial sales of US$54.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2016 were 1.6% lower (flat in constant currency) than Q4 2015 and for the full year were 6.4% higher (7.4% in constant currency) than 2015. Wind energy sales for Q4 were about 10% lower in constant currency as compared to the comparable period in 2015, and the full year 2016 constant currency sales were in line with 2015. The rest of industrial sales were about 20% higher in constant currency for both the fourth quarter and full year as compared to the prior year. The higher sales were due to the Formax acquisition at the beginning of 2016, partially offset by weakness in the recreation and other industrial submarkets.
Record year
‘Hexcel delivered another solid quarter to end the year with record sales, operating income, net income and EPS,’ said chairman, CEO and president Nick Stanage. ‘As previously disclosed in our 2017 guidance, we expect another record year of sales and earnings with cash flow generation of more than US$100 million. We continue to focus on innovation and operational excellence as we drive manufacturing throughput, capacity expansion and technology advances to support our customers’ growth and next generation products.’
This story is reprinted from material from Hexcel, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.
