Sales of aerospace products declined by 2 percent to $2.97 million in the third quarter of 2013 compared to the same period a year ago, Honeywell said Friday in its quarterly earnings report.
The aerospace and defense manufacturer attributed the decline to a drop in sales of its defense and space products, the result of declining national defense budgets, most notable in the U.S. with the continued across-the-board government spending cuts known as sequestration. However, the drop in its defense segment was "partially offset" by growth on the commercial side, as sales to original equipment manufacturers (OEM) such as Boeing, were up 3 percent.
Additionally, sales of its commercial aftermarket avionics and other aerospace products increased by 3 percent, driven by "improved flight hour growth" and operators looking to support repairs, modifications and upgrades of their aircraft.
"Looking ahead to 2014, we are planning for a continued slow growth macro environment, but see a path to strong earnings growth driven by our relentless seed planting in new products and technologies, continued penetration of high growth regions, and growing traction on key process initiatives," said Dave Cote, chairman and CEO at Honeywell.
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