Bombardier profit falls on charge; delays Learjet 85 service entry

Bombardier Inc reported a 93 percent drop in quarterly profit after taking a restructuring charge, and said entry-into-service of its Learjet 85 business aircraft has been delayed to the summer of 2014 due to several technology issues.

The plane and train maker had earlier said the new Learjet would enter service by the end of this year.

Bombardier said on Thursday the first flight of its C-Series jetliner, its ticket into the larger commercial jet market, would take place by the end of June.

The company said in November the first flight had been delayed by six months to June because of unspecified supplier delays.

Bombardier competes with Brazil's Embraer in the smaller passenger aircraft business and is seeking to capture some of the larger plane market dominated by Airbus and Boeing Co with its 100-149 seat C-series plane.

Bombardier said on Wednesday it won an order to sell up to 42 of the C-series jetliners to Russian aircraft leasing company Ilyushin Finance Co in a deal that could be worth as much as $3.42 billion.

The company said it expects revenue to be higher this year than the $16.8 billion it reported for 2012. Percentage growth is expected to be in high single digits, the company said.

Net profit in the fourth quarter fell to $14 million, from $214 million a year earlier.

Bombardier took a restructuring charge of $119 million in the quarter related to job cuts in its rail unit and the closure of a freight car plant in Aachen, Germany.

On an adjusted basis, net income fell to $188 million, or 10 cents per share, from $227 million, or 13 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue rose 12 percent to $4.8 billion.

Revenue at Bombardier's aerospace unit, which makes business, commercial and amphibious craft, rose 30 percent to $2.6 billion a year earlier.

Revenue in the transportation unit, which makes trains, fell 4 percent to $2.2 billion.

Free cash flow rose 44 percent to $850 million.

(Reporting by Susan Taylor in Toronto and Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)