Nervøs stemning hos Boeing - Yahoo! News

 

 

Boeing execs try to calm investors after multi-billion dollar loss

Ranji Sinha

Wed, November 2, 2022 at 7:58 PM·3 min read

·         Dave Calhoun

American businessperson and corporate director, President and CEO, The Boeing Company

Boeing posted a multi-billion dollar loss in the third quarter of this year. Now, the company is trying to rebound and move back into positive territory.

The plane manufacturer has thousands of jobs based in Washington and the Puget Sound region. This morning, company executives tried to sell investors on a new course for Boeing.

They discussed the plan during the company’s investor conference Wednesday morning — it’s the first such conference since 2016.

Boeing has faced production delays and issues with certain contracts including defense contracts, and that has spooked some investors who maybe are looking to see what, if anything, Boeing can do to come out of this.

Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun was the first in a long line of executives to speak this morning.

The executives fully admitted that the COVID-19 pandemic and the grounding of its top-selling plane — the 737 MAX — after two deadly crashes had created major issues. The company has racked up debt and taken losses in some of its business sectors as a result.

Boeing executives said the company will try to ramp up production in the coming years — production that waned due to factory shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also wants to get back to a stable delivery timetable.

The company says it will deliver 400-450 737s next year and deliver about 70-80 787s. Company executives said Boeing is hoping to get certification for the 737 MAX later this year or early next year.

Calhoun stressed that safety now dominates Boeing’s efforts.

He said the groundings and the subsequent efforts toward building a safer 737 MAX have informed all decisions going forward.

“We’ll never forget it nor should we ever forget it, and all the work we do around safety, which has been the dominant theme in our company during this whole period of time,” said Calhoun. “All the work we do around safety is built around that promise.”

The company has stressed that its free cash flow has been strong and executives this morning said that Boeing believes there will be even higher free cash flow in the coming year.