For the first time this summer, a Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. test pilot successfully flew a helicopter prototype mounted with a “pusher” prop that could power a new generation of military choppers at record speeds within a decade.
As it turns out, Sikorsky may not need that long to propel itself past Hamilton Sundstrand as United Technology Corp.”™s second largest division.
With nearly $1.4 billion in revenue in the second quarter, Stratford-based Sikorsky pulled up just short of chasing down Hamilton Sundstrand, a Windsor Locks-based sister unit that produces electronic and mechanical systems to control aircraft.
Hamilton Sundstrand sales came in just north of $1.4 billion, and were just $13 million more than Sikorsky”™s.
Up until last year, Sikorsky rarely came within $200 million of Hamilton Sundstrand sales in a given reporting period, but that changed as of the fourth quarter when Sikorsky had $36 million more in revenue.
Â
Sikorsky”™s comparative deficit dipped back to $47 million in the first quarter, but as Hamilton Sundstrand continues to see revenue drop amid the recession. Sikorsky is on pace to eclipse it as the second-largest aerospace division of UTC behind the East Hartford-based aircraft engine maker Pratt & Whitney.
Â
Sikorsky is the largest employer in Fairfield County with some 9,000 workers, and has been buoyed in the past year by military helicopter purchases even as commercial helicopter sales have leveled. During the quarter, Sikorsky shipped 50 helicopters, 40 of them military and the rest for commercial use. The company remains on pace to deliver between 230 and 240 helicopters this year.
Sikorsky had $133 million in operating income during the second quarter, making it the lone UTC division to record a year-over-year increase in sales and operating profits. Hartford-based UTC had net income of $976 million as attributable to shareholders, down 23 percent from a year ago, on sales of $13.2 billion, down 17 percent. UTC now expects 2009 sales to total $53 billion, $2 billion lower than earlier projections.
Pratt & Whitney reportedly is considering paring 1,000 jobs in Cheshire and East Hartford, on top of announced cuts that have been stunning in scope. In the first half, UTC unveiled layoffs totaling 10,600 workers and the exiting of facility space totaling 2 million square feet.
“We have seen the benefits of furlough across all of our businesses, and furlough is simply people taking days off without pay,” said Greg Hayes, chief financial officer of UTC, in a conference call with investors last month. “We”™re also seeing the benefit of net attrition. Net attrition is more than 3,000 people year-to-date ”¦ and we”™re just not backfilling those jobs. We”™ve also deferred merit increases out of the year.
“I think the employees have been remarkably good about all of the cost takeout,” Hayes added. “Flying coach to Singapore is no fun thing to do, but all of that is part of what we”™ve been doing here to contain costs.”
Sikorsky has not been immune to the cuts, telling the Connecticut Post last month that it would jettison 270 jobs, resulting in about $7 million in restructuring charges during the quarter. Sikorsky President Jeff Pino is still working to improve the company”™s efficiency, Hayes said.
“Jeff down at Sikorsky is faced with a different problem, and (it) is a good problem, of having a lot more volume,” Hayes said. “So his inventory continues to go up. I”™ll tell you, his (turnarounds) are nothing special. They”™re aware of that and they”™re continuing to work on it.”
