BBA Aviation says its jet business coasted along in the last quarter
BBA AVIATION is finding it tough to sell more of its services to plane owners, with the third quarter of the year “marginally worse than anticipated”, though it remains upbeat about the coming year.
The company, which offers refuelling, repairs and ground services to business jets, said revenues were up two per cent on the same period last year.
BBA, which called off merger talks with Standard Aero in September, said it has plans to spend $130m on acquisitions or new licences.
“While month on month performance remains volatile we have seen an encouraging trend of growth, albeit modest, in the North American [business and general aviation] market in the last six months,” said chief executive Simon Pryce.
Westhouse analyst Kevin Fogarty said flight activity across North America remains 18 per cent below its peak, leaving BBA plenty of room to grow further as the economy improves.
Shares in the FTSE 250-listed firm closed down 4.2 per cent.