PROVIDENCE – Textron Inc. is expanding a restructuring plan to include laying off 1,500 people, 4% of its global workforce, the aviation company announced in its first quarter earnings filing Thursday.
The board of directors on Wednesday approved the restructuring expansion after the U.S. Army canceled its Shadow and Future Attack programs at Textron Systems and Bell segments during the first quarter of 2024. The company also cited lower anticipated consumer demand for certain products at the company’s other businesses.
Since inception of the 2023 restructuring plan, Textron has incurred $140 million in pre-tax special charges. It now expects to incur severance costs in the second quarter of 2024 in the range of $25 million to $30 million. However, job layoffs were not part of the original proposal.
The company expects the changes under this plan to be substantially completed by the end of the first half of 2024.
On Thursday, Textron reported a $201 million profit in the first quarter of 2024, a 5.2% increase from $191 million last year.
The company reported a profit of $1.03 cents per diluted share, up from 82 cents one year prior.
The results missed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.28 per share.
The maker of Cessna small planes and Bell helicopters posted revenue of $3.14 billion, a 4.3% increase from the $3.01 billion reported the year prior. However, it did not meet Wall Street expectations. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $3.34 billion.
“In the quarter, we saw profit growth across our Aviation, Bell and Systems businesses,” said Textron Chairman and CEO Scott C. Donnelly. “At Aviation, we saw continued strong market demand which contributed to $177 million in backlog growth. At Bell, we saw revenue growth driven by the FLRAA program.”
- Textron Aviation revenue totaled $1.18 billion, up from $1.14 billion the year prior, reflecting higher pricing of $48 million, partially offset by lower volume and mix of $9 million.
- Bell revenue totaled $727 million, an increase from $621 million one year prior largely reflecting higher military volume of $95 million, primarily related to the FLRAA program, partially offset by lower volume on the V-22 and H-1 programs.
- Textron Systems reported $306 million in revenue, same as a year ago.
- Industrial segment revenue totaled $892 million, a decline from $932 million a year prior largely due to lower volume and mix of $51 million, principally in the Specialized Vehicles product line, partially offset by higher pricing of $16 million in the segment.
(RECASTS lede, updates with job cuts. Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.)
