Rockwell Collins Adjusts 2009 Sales Forecast

Rockwell Collins said it is adjusting its 2009 sales expectations “to reflect our updated assessment of market conditions,” particularly in the business aviation market. Total sales now are expected to be $4.7 billion, down from $4.9 billion forecasted in November.

“We are operating in a time of extraordinary volatility, making it very difficult to predict future business conditions,” stated Clayton Jones, chairman, president and CEO. “While market conditions for our Government Systems business and the Air Transport portion of our Commercial Systems business are tracking to expectations, we have seen a significant deterioration in the business aviation market. Significant increases in the available inventory of relatively young used business aircraft and sharp reductions in utilization indicate that we will see pressure in our OEM and aftermarket business jet revenues.”

Reporting first-quarter, fiscal 2009 results Tuesday, Rockwell Collins said sales declined by $54 million, or 5 percent, to $1.058 billion, due to the impact on Commercial Systems from the machinists strike and production issues at Boeing and lower air-transport aftermarket sales. Commercial Systems’ sales of $484 million in the first quarter were down $81 million, or 14 percent, compared to sales of $565 million for the same period in fiscal 2008.