By Valerie Insinna and Abhijith Ganapavaram
(Reuters) -Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc said on Wednesday it expects a $31 million hit to full-year gross profit from disruptions and rework related to a Boeing 737 MAX fuselage production problem, and that more related costs are anticipated.
Boeing last month said it had paused deliveries of some 737 MAXs due to a problem involving two fittings that join the aft fuselage made by Spirit to the vertical tail, which were not attached correctly.
“Additional costs are expected, including costs Boeing may assert to repair certain models of previously delivered units in their factory and warranty costs related to affected 737 units in service,” Spirit said.
“However, the company cannot reasonably estimate the remaining potential costs at this time,” it added.
Rework costs for affected 737 fuselages at Spirit’s Wichita, Kansas-based production facility are projected to amount to $5 million, an expense of about $100,000-$150,000 per plane.
“The implication is that rework is a fraction of the cost, with the bulk being factory disruption,” said J.P. Morgan analyst Seth Seifman in a note to investors. “What is not covered here is the cost of this issue at Boeing’s facility in Renton.”
Overall, “it looks like the cost of 737 rework could be below some of the most dire estimates,” Seifman said.
Repair work to fuselages in Spirit’s factory is expected to be completed by the end of July. The company has also started to build and deliver production-conforming 737 fuselages under a revised process, it said.
Shares in Spirit were up 2.3% early on Wednesday, rebounding after a drop during premarket trade.
As a result of the disruption at its factories due to the 737 manufacturing issue, Spirit logged $12 million in unfavorable cumulative catch-up adjustments.
The company also announced $110 million in forward loss charges on the Airbus A220, Airbus A350 and Boeing 787. Losses on the A220 amounted to about $81 million, including $46 million in non-recurring supply chain costs as well as other costs related to production schedule changes.
Spirit reported a first-quarter adjusted loss per share of $1.69, wider than analyst expectations of a $0.30 loss per share, as per Refinitiv data. It reported $1.4 billion in revenue, missing the analyst consensus of $1.5 billion.
Cash burn was $69 million in the first quarter, compared to a cash burn of $298 million a year ago.
Analysts polled by Refinitiv expect a 2023 loss of 5 cents per share on revenue of $6.34 billion. Spirit reported a net loss of $545.7 million in 2022, hit by supply snarls and labor shortages.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun last week called the 737 manufacturing defect “gnarly” and “difficult to find”, but noted that Spirit and Boeing had quickly identified affected planes and begun the rework.
Spirit expects to receive an $180 million cash advance from Boeing in the second quarter, and Boeing said it was contributing “manufacturing and engineering resources” to Spirit after the company discovered the 737 bracket issue.
Nevertheless, the hit to profit piles more pressure on Spirit, which has been struggling to stabilize cash flows and make parts on time for widebody plane programs due to industry-wide parts and supply shortages.
(Reporting by Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru and Valerie Insinna in Washington; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Jan Harvey and Sharon Singleton)
