Bombardier Reports Full Year 2020 Financial Results, Provides 2021 Guidance and Outlines Actions to Drive Profitability and Productivity

• 2020 revenues from Business Aircraft activities reached $5.6 billion, growing 3% year-over-year on 114 deliveries, 44 of which were in the fourth quarter, including a record 16 Global 7500 aircraft deliveries
• 2020 adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ of $200 million from continuing operations; $912 million of reported EBIT, reflects the accounting gains on disposal of the CRJ and aerostructures businesses
• Fourth Quarter Free Cash Flow⁽¹⁾ (FCF) generation of $523 million from continuing operations before interest and taxes, ahead of plan; cash flow from operating activities of $323 million for the fourth quarter
• Pro forma cash and cash equivalents⁽²⁾ of $5.4 billion, including Cash on hand of $1.8 billion at Bombardier Inc. on December 31, 2020 and $3.6 billion of proceeds from the recently closed sale of Transportation once it becomes fully available; Pro-forma net debt⁽³⁾ of approximately $4.7 billion
• Company-wide initiative to drive profitability and productivity underway; Targeting savings of approximately $400 million⁽⁴⁾ annually by 2023
• Learjet production to end in Q4 2021, allowing the Company to focus on more profitable Challenger and Global aircraft families; Wichita to become Centre of Excellence for specialized aircraft platforms
• 2021 outlook⁽⁴⁾: Revenues expected to grow organically; Adjusted EBITDA and EBIT⁽¹⁾ expected to increase to greater than $500 million and $100 million respectively, and FCF usage expected to be better than $500 million, including one-time costs and investments
• Company to host an Investor Day on March 4, 2021

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

Bombardier (TSX: BBD.B) today reported its fourth quarter and full year 2020 results, provided guidance for 2021 and outlined a number of actions to drive profitability and productivity as the Company focuses exclusively on designing, building and servicing the world’s best business jets.

“With our strategic repositioning now complete, we are very excited to embark on our journey as a pure-play business jet company,” said Éric Martel, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bombardier Inc. “Our unmatched product portfolio, world-class customer services network, and incredibly talented employees give us a strong foundation to build upon. We are encouraged by our momentum in the fourth quarter and are confident in the actions we are taking to navigate through the pandemic and better position the Company for a market recovery.”

Overview 2020 Financial Performance

Revenues from Business Aircraft activities reached $5.6 billion in 2020, reflecting a 3% year-over-year improvement, driven by the ramp up in Global 7500 deliveries, which reached a record 16 deliveries in the fourth quarter, partially offset by the significant impact of COVID-19 on other programs and services revenues.       

Adjusted full year EBITDA and adjusted EBIT⁽¹⁾  for continuing operations of $200 million and $(211) million, respectively, reflect the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on deliveries and services, as well as a lower contribution of early Global 7500 units. Reported EBIT of $0.9 billion reflects the accounting gains on disposals of the CRJ and aerostructures businesses.

Fourth quarter free cash flow generation from continuing operations before interest and taxes was $523 million. This was better than expected and notwithstanding a $160 million negative impact made in the quarter due to the winding down of the Company’s reverse factoring program. Full year free cash flow usage from continuing operations was $1.9 billion, reflecting pandemic-related disruptions, and including corporate and interest expenses, which will be lower in 2021 given the expected debt paydown and restructuring actions announced today.

Bombardier begins 2021 with pro forma cash and cash equivalents of approximately $5.4 billion, including the proceeds from the recently closed sale of Transportation and a pro forma net debt of approximately $4.7 billion.

Driving Profitability and Productivity

Bombardier has and will be launching a number of actions to improve profitability and cash generation. The goal is to make the organization more efficient and agile, capable of delivering stronger financial performance under the current market conditions, while also establishing a lower cost base to grow from, once the market recovers. With these actions, the Company aims to generate $400 million annually in recurring savings by 2023. Savings are expected to be approximately $100 million in 2021; the Company will take a one-time charge of $50 million this year to support its restructuring actions.  

Specific actions include consolidating Bombardier’s Global aircraft completion work in Montréal; reviewing options for underutilized hangar and industrial space at our Québec facilities; and reducing its overall workforce by approximately 1,600 positions, including reductions associated with progress on the Global 7500 learning curve. These reductions, together with the completion of previously announced restructuring actions and the divestiture of the electrical wiring interconnection system business in Querétaro, Mexico, should bring the Corporation's global workforce to about 13,000 by year-end.

“Workforce reductions are always very difficult, and we regret seeing talented and dedicated employees leave the company for any reason,” said Martel. “But these reductions are absolutely necessary for us to rebuild our company while we continue to navigate through the pandemic.”

Bombardier also announced it will end production of Learjet aircraft later this year, allowing the Company to focus on its more profitable Challenger and Global aircraft families and accelerate the expansion of its customer services business.

“With more than 3,000 aircraft delivered since its entry-into-service in 1963, the iconic Learjet aircraft has had a remarkable and lasting impact on business aviation. Passengers all over the world love to fly this exceptional aircraft and count on its unmatched performance and reliability. However, given the increasingly challenging market dynamics, we have made this difficult decision to end Learjet production,” explained Martel.  

Bombardier will continue to fully support the Learjet fleet well into the future, and to this end, today launched the Learjet RACER remanufacturing program for Learjet 40 and Learjet 45 aircraft. RACER program includes a bundled set of enhancements, including interior and exterior components, new avionics, high-speed connectivity, engine enhancements, and improved aircraft maintenance costs. The RACER remanufacturing program will be offered exclusively through Bombardier’s service centre in Wichita, Kansas.

Bombardier’s Wichita facility will continue to serve as the Company’s primary flight-test centre and be a key part of its global services network. In addition, Bombardier has designated Wichita as the Centre of Excellence for its specialized aircraft business and expects the facility will play a leading role in future special mission modification contracts.  

2021 Guidance

With Bombardier’s repositioning to a pure-play business aviation company now complete, 2021 will be a transition year as the Company executes its productivity actions, further matures Global 7500 production and begins to address its capital structure.    

Revenues from business aircraft activities in 2021 are expected to be better than 2020 based on a gradual economic recovery scenario.

Adjusted EBITDA is expected to increase to greater than $500 million, reflecting ongoing progress on the Global 7500 learning curve, growth in customer services and the partial impact of the cost reduction actions. Adjusted EBIT is expected to be greater than $100 million.

Free cash flow usage in 2021 is expected to be better than $500 million, including one-time outflows related to the closing of the reverse factoring program; residual value guarantees; and the previously mentioned restructuring charge, which collectively are estimated to be approximately $200 million.

Investor Day

Bombardier will host a virtual Investor Day on March 4, 2021, during which the Leadership team will provide updates on its market outlook, debt management strategy and cost reduction actions. Details will be provided in a separate media advisory and posted on the company’s website www.ir.bombardier.com at a later date in the near future.  

Selected results (PDF)

SEGMENTED RESULTS AND HIGHLIGHTS

Aviation

Results (PDF)

Headquartered in Montréal, Canada, Bombardier is present in more than 12 countries including its production/engineering sites and its customer support network. The Corporation supports a worldwide fleet of approximately 4,900 aircraft in service with a wide variety of multinational corporations, charter and fractional ownership providers, governments and private individuals.

News and information is available at bombardier.com or follow us on Twitter @Bombardier.

Bombardier, Challenger, Challenger 350, Global, Global 7500, Learjet, Learjet 40 and Learjet 45 are trademarks of Bombardier Inc. or its subsidiaries.

For information

Jessica McDonald Advisor, Media Relations and Public Affairs Bombardier Inc. +1 514 861 9481

Patrick Ghoche Vice President, Investor Relations Bombardier Inc. +1 514 861 5727

Readers are strongly advised to view a more detailed discussion of our results by segment in our Management’s Discussion and Analysis and Consolidated financial statements which are posted on our website at ir.bombardier.com.

bps: basis points
nmf: information not meaningful

1. Non-GAAP financial measures. Refer to the Non-GAAP financial measures and Liquidity and capital resources sections in the MD&A of the Corporation’s financial report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 for definitions of these metrics and the Analysis of results section thereafter for reconciliations to the most comparable IFRS measures.
2. Non-GAAP financial measure. Pro-forma cash and cash equivalents includes cash and cash equivalents at Bombardier Inc. (excluding Transportation) of $1.8 billion as of December 31, 2020 and net proceeds of approximately $3.6 billion from the sale of Bombardier Transportation, which assumes the full monetization of Alstom shares worth approximately $600 million, the release of any cash not immediately available and is before the deployment of proceeds against any debt payment.
3. Non-GAAP financial measure. Pro-forma net debt is defined as Long-term debt of $10.1 billion less cash and cash equivalents at Bombardier Inc. (excluding Transportation) of $1.8 billion as of December 31, 2020 less net proceeds of approximately $3.6 billion from the sale of Bombardier Transportation, which includes approximately $600 million of Alstom shares.
4. See the forward-looking statements disclaimer at the end of this press release as well as the guidance and forward-looking statements section in the Overview section in the MD&A of the Corporation’s financial report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, for details regarding the assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based.
5. Transportation was classified as discontinued operations as of December 31, 2020. As a result, the results of operations have been restated for comparative periods. Refer to Note 31 - Discontinued operations to our Consolidated financial statements for more details. 
6. Includes continuing operations only.
7. 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.
8. Included the firm orders amounting to $1.1 billion from the aerostructures businesses presented under Assets held for sale as of December 31, 2019. Also included 20 firm orders for CRJ900 as of December 31, 2019. The backlog for the CRJ Series aircraft program amounting to $0.4 billion was removed as a result of the closing of the sale of the CRJ Series aircraft program to MHI on June 1, 2020.
9. On May 31, 2019, the Corporation completed the sale of the Q Series aircraft program assets, including aftermarket operations and assets, to De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited (formerly Longview Aircraft Company of Canada Limited). On June 1, 2020, the Corporation completed the sale of the regional jet program to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI).

CAUTION REGARDING NON-GAAP 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.
Adjusted EPS	EPS calculated based on adjusted net income attributable to equity holders of Bombardier Inc., using the treasury stock method, giving effect to the exercise of all dilutive elements.
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, adjusted net income (loss) and adjusted EPS

Management uses adjusted EBIT, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income (loss) and adjusted EPS 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, adjusted net income (loss) and adjusted EPS 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 tables hereafter, except for the following reconciliations:

• adjusted EBIT to EBIT – see the Results of operations tables in the reporting segments and Consolidated results of operations section; and
• free cash flow usage to cash flows from operating activities – see and the tables below and the Free cash flow usage table in the Liquidity and capital resources section.

Reconciliations to most comparable IFRS measures (PDF)

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 in relation to the sale of the Transportation business to Alstom discussed herein include the following material assumptions: the realization of the intended benefits from this transaction and the deployment of proceeds towards debt pay down. For additional information, including with respect to other assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements made in this press release, refer to the Guidance and Forward-looking Statements section in the MD&A of our financial report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020. 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 of our financial report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020. 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 report 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.