Embraer Posts Q1 Loss of $23.4 million

Declining deliveries of business jets, lower demand for commercial and military aircraft, and administrative costs from a staff reduction program all added up to first quarter losses for Embraer. The losses amounted to $23.4 million, compared with last year, when the Brazilian airframer posted a net profit of $85 million in the same timeframe. Embraer would not say how many cancellations it received for business jets, nor would it release details on deferred orders for airliners. The company did report that the value of its order backlog dropped by 5.7 percent to $19.7 billion. Revenue guidance for this year has been revised downward to $5.5 billion, of which $3.3 billion is expected to come from sales of commercial aircraft. Revenue for Q1 2009 dropped by 13.5 percent (to $1.15 billion) compared with Q1 2008. Deliveries amounted to 40 units-down by five from last year's Q1 numbers.