Boeing takes $2.8 mth hit in defense business, keeps cash flow goal

Oct 26 (Reuters) – Boeing Co’s (BA.N) ailing defense unit on Wednesday recorded a $2.8 billion charge, but the US planemaker stuck to its forecast of generating cash this year despite struggling to raise commercial jet production due to labor and supply shortages .

Shares tumbled 4% after the results as cost overruns in Boeing’s defense, space and security segment have hobbled a recovery for the company trying to come out of successive crises by cashing in on rising air travel demand.

Both Boeing and its European rival Airbus SE (AIR.PA) have ramped up production of narrowbody jets, with Boeing delivering 112 jets in the third quarter compared to 85 jets last year.

That helped it generate a free cash flow of $2.9 billion in the quarter. It had recorded a cash burn of $507 million in the same period a year ago.

However, rising cost pressures over the last few months have hampered fixed-price contracts for US aerospace and defense firms, prompting an industry body to ask the US Congress for inflationary relief.

The planemaker said it took charges on its VC-25B program, commonly known as Air Force One, as well as on the KC-46A refueling tanker program, among others.

“Our revenue and earnings were significantly impacted by losses on fixed-price development programs in our defense business, driven by higher estimated manufacturing and supply chain costs,” Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun said in a message to employees.

The company has appointed a senior troubleshooter Steve Parker to help turn

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Data’s Role In Driving Sustainability

Mark Schwartz is the Chief Digital Officer at Trimbleresponsible for transforming the company’s systems, processes and infrastructure.

Businesses are steadily adapting to the reality of climate change, with many implementing new initiatives designed to measure the output of their carbon emissions with the goal of reducing them over time.

Two of the biggest initiatives include establishing environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals, which provide standards to evaluate how risky a company may be to investors, and the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a nonprofit that helps companies develop a path to reduce their emissions to be in line with the Paris agreement goals.

While these are great first steps in helping companies measure how much they’re emitting and the amount in which they should reduce those emissions over time, they don’t provide instructions on how to actually reduce emissions without negatively impacting the bottom line. This is why some businesses aren’t incentivized to become more sustainable in the first place.

The good news is that there are ways for businesses to improve productivity, cut costs and also reduce their carbon emissions. In fact, in many industries, goals toward sustainability are often completely aligned with goals of reducing costs and improving output.

For example, it’s estimated that as many as 15% of truckload miles are “empty.” Consider the fact that nearly 38 million trucks travel over 300 billion miles a year, and it’s easy to see the astronomical number of empty miles, waste and unnecessary CO2 emissions. When a

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US business equipment borrowings grew 11% in September – ELFA

Oct 25 (Reuters) – US companies borrowed 11% more in September to finance their equipment investments compared with a year earlier, industry body Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) said on Tuesday, while raising doubts over the sustainability of this growth amid slowdown fears.

The companies signed up for $10.2 billion in new loans, leases and lines of credit last month, compared with $9.2 billion a year earlier, according to ELFA. Borrowings were up nearly 6% from January.

“Despite continued challenges in the supply chain, inflationary pressures and rising interest rates, the industry and our finance company continue to grow,” Star Hill Financial LLC Chief Executive Hollis Bufferd said in a statement.

“The probability of continued Federal Reserve interest rate increases on the horizon creates some uncertainty, but we are seeing increased demand for fixed rate leases and loans to support our clients’ capital expenditures. With an eye on global economic disruptions, I am cautiously optimistic, ” added Bufferd.

ELFA, which reports economic activity for the nearly $1-trillion equipment finance sector, said credit approvals totaled 77.3%, up from 75.2% in August.

The Washington-based body’s leasing and finance index measures the volume of commercial equipment financed in the United States.

The index is based on a survey of 25 members, including Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) and financing affiliates or units of Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N), Dell Technologies Inc (DELL.N), Siemens AG (SIEGn.DE ), Canon Inc and Volvo AB (VOLVb.ST).

The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation, ELFA’s non-profit affiliate, said its confidence

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