São Paulo –Brazilian aircraft manufacturing company Embraer obtained record-high revenues from sales in Brazil this year. The company should post a domestic market sales result of US$ 500 million, representing a 10% share of total revenues, as against 4% last year. The information was disclosed today (9th) by the CEO of the company, Frederico Fleury Curado, in São Paulo.
“Brazil is running contrary to the world, in a good way, with regard to growth. The country was able to recover well from the crisis and is going to grow well next year. Embraer reflected that growth, even though the domestic market is still quite small for us,” the executive told ANBA.
According to him, deals closed in Brazil include aircraft sales for domestic companies Azul and Trip, plus 10 to 15 Phenom 100 executive jets, the delivery of two aircraft for the president’s cabinet and two large Defence contracts.
“Our expectation for 2010 is for the Brazilian market to continue growing,” said Curado. According to him, if the GDP growth next year is from 5% to 6%, as forecasted, then air transportation should grow from 8% to 10%. “These are very important rates,” he added.
The CEO also expects that the growth of the Brazilian aviation market may place the country among the sector leaders worldwide.
Regarding the company’s balance sheet, Curado stated that 2009 was a very difficult and “challenging” year, especially because of the strong foreign market retraction. “Embraer is ending the year with a solid balance sheet, despite the hardships,” he said. The company started the year by dismissing approximately 4,000 employees.
According to him, 2010 will be "as hard or even harder" than 2009, but the executive guaranteed that there will be no cost reduction at the company and no reduction of investment in technology. Investment should be maintained at US$ 350 million.
In late October, Embraer informed that it estimated a 10% reduction in revenues in 2010, taking into consideration the estimate of US$ 5.5 billion for this year. According to Curado, the forecast still applies. Furthermore, the executive informed that roughly 60% of commercial aircraft deliveries by the company next year should be funded by the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) and by the Export Guarantee Fund (FGE).
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
