Adds context on Spirit plants, updates stock price

By Allison Lampert, Aatreyee Dasgupta and Dan Catchpole

MONTREAL, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Canadian planemaker Bombardier BBDb.TO on Thursday beat quarterly profit estimates on aftermarket business strength, and delayed its 2025 forecast, citing uncertainty related to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs.

Shares of the Montreal-based business jet maker dropped 3.6% in Toronto late morning trade.

Resilient demand for private flying has boosted jet makers' order books and their aftermarket businesses, despite challenges in the aerospace supply chain. But Trump's 25% tariff on Canadian and Mexican imports has created uncertainty for aviation, even though the duties were delayed by 30 days.

Bombardier CEO Eric Martel told analysts he was disappointed at not providing guidance, and does not see a slowdown in the market, but stressed the company has to be cautious due to the threat of tariffs and retaliatory duties.

The stakes are high for business aviation due to the industry's global supply chain and key U.S. market, the world's largest for private jets.

Aerospace major RTX's RTX.N Pratt & Whitney Canada unit produces jet engines for business jets made by U.S.-based Textron TXT.N and General Dynamics' GD.N Gulfstream.

“In light of the current tariff threat, not providing guidance is the most responsible and transparent thing for us to do,” Martel said.

He later told reporters that while tariffs would hurt Bombardier's U.S.-based supply chain, as well as its Canadian business, he did not expect a big impact on the company's U.S.-based defense or services business in Wichita, Kansas.

Bombardier has more than 2,800 U.S.-based suppliers across 47 states.

While Bombardier is a Canadian company, he said, "at the end of the day, (we) are a North American aerospace company."

Martel added that the company has not made a decision on whether to be part of a transatlantic break up of Boeing BA.N supplier Spirit AeroSystems SPR.N which the U.S. planemaker is buying for $4.7 billion in stock.

While European planemaker Airbus AIR.PA has moved to take on some of the Spirit Aero's activities, it's not clear whether Bombardier will acquire part of the supplier's Belfast operations that produce parts for its Challenger and Global jets. Bombardier could also do business with a different buyer, Martel said, adding that there are ongoing private discussions.

"We are clearly a potential buyer but at this stage our priority is to make sure they deliver the product," said Martel, who visited the Belfast plant two weeks ago.

Planemakers, including Bombardier, continue wrestling with supply-chain snags that impact deliveries.

Bombardier delivered 57 aircraft during the quarter ended December 31, compared with 56 a year earlier. But the company's 146 aircraft deliveries in 2024 fell short of its November forecast of 150 to 155 jets.

For the fourth quarter, Montreal-based Bombardier posted a 1.5% rise in revenue to $3.11 billion, compared with analysts' estimate of $3.18 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

On an adjusted basis, it earned $3.01 per share in the fourth quarter, compared with analysts' estimate of $2.04.

Its full-year revenue rose 8% to $8.67 billion. The company's services business generated $2.04 billion in annual revenue, hitting a company target a year earlier than expected.

The company reported $232 million in full-year free cash flow, a metric closely watched by investors, in line with its targets.

(Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal, Aatreyee Dasgupta in Bengaluru and Dan Catchpole in Seattle; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli, Nick Zieminski and David Gregorio)

((Aatreyee.Dasgupta@thomsonreuters.com;))