Mooney Airplane Company Announces Profitable July on Record Revenues; Delivery of Six Planes Nets $85,909 On Revenues In Excess of $2.6mm In Revenues
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 08, 2003 6:01 AM
- BusinessWire
KERRVILLE, Texas, Sep 8, 2003 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Mooney Airplane Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Mooney Aerospace Group, Ltd. (MASG) , had a net income of $85,909.00 in July 2003. The company reported net sales of $2,616,566.00 and an 18% gross margin of $475,420. Company President J. Nelson Happy remarked, "This is the first month since we acquired the Mooney assets that the operating subsidiary has been profitable."
Sam Rothman, Chairman of Mooney Aerospace Group, Ltd., commented, "We are very pleased with the financial performance of Mooney Airplane Company in July. Achieving a gross margin of 18% is in line with our business plan, and although we anticipate monthly variations in financial performance, these results prove that the company can make money."
Robert Collier, Director of Operations, observed, "We completed and delivered five new Ovation 2 DX and one new Bravo DX in July. We now project that the assembly line will be able to establish a consistent construction output of six airplanes per month starting in September."
Mr. Happy also commented, "All of our production is sold for September and we are beginning to see strong order flow for October deliveries. As a result of the new accelerated depreciation rules adopted by Congress this year, along with excellent efforts by our Mooney sales and marketing team, we expect that Mooney will be able to book orders for all of our remaining 2003 production capacity."
Nicolas Chabbert, Mooney's Executive Vice-President of Sales and Marketing stated: "We have just completed our photo shoot highlighting our newly designed paint scheme. We will soon print new literature illustrating all Ovation2, Ovation2 DX and Bravo DX designs to assist our sales efforts. Also, we have had a lot of favorable recognition in the press, such as Private Pilot's report in its October 2003 issue, which also helps sales."
In other company news, the previously announced strategic relationship with Spanish airplane manufacturer Contrucciones Aeronautics de Galicia (CAG) is progressing. The company will release shortly a detailed update on the introduction of a new Mooney sport airplane, the Mooney Speedster, (known as Toxo II in Spain).
For more information on Mooney Aerospace Group please visit www.MOONEY.com.
About Mooney Aerospace Group
Mooney Aerospace Group (MASG) is a re-emerging player in the $41 billion general aviation industry. The Company designs, manufactures and distributes its own line of single engine aircraft sold to the general aviation market. The original Mooney company was established in 1947 by Al Mooney and has sold over 10,000 aircraft over the last 50 years. 8,000 planes are still in operation in the U.S. alone. Mooney is known in the industry as a highly reliable high performance single engine plane that maintains its value in the aircraft aftermarket. In 2002 a new management team took over and Mooney Aerospace Group received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) production and repair certificates for its facility in Texas. The company began producing and shipping aircraft in late 2002 generating revenues in excess of $5 million for the year representing both the sales of new aircraft and parts and service revenues. The first six months of 2003 the company reported revenues in excess of $4.5 million. The company operates out of a 350,000 square foot facility near San Antonio, Texas and employs over 170 people. Since its re-emergence, Mooney Aerospace has achieved several new milestones and is well positioned to capitalize on the successful completion of a recent financial restructuring and the infusion of $7.5 million in new capital. Since acquiring the assets of the prior Mooney Aircraft Corporation in 2002, the milestones reached include: Creation of a new executive management team; Consolidation of all operations at the Kerrville, Texas manufacturing plant; Introduction of a new plane, the Ovation2 DX; and formation of a sales and marketing division that combines a direct and indirect domestic sales force and reintroduces international sales.
INDUSTRY OVERVIEW
Globally, general aviation is a $41 billion industry that is clearly an integral part of our nation's transportation system and economy. The industry generated over $11 billion in new aircraft sales in 2002. US sales figures exceeded $7.8 billion in 2002. Although the sales figures were down from 2001, prior years have set new revenue records. 2002 sales exceeded 1999 figures and the industry has grown three fold from 1996.
Numerous steps are being taken by the industry to stimulate sales, including: changes in the tax code that allows accelerated depreciation, promotion of innovative new products, financing incentives, innovative ownership strategies (fractional ownership) and continued support from the state and federal government to provide an atmosphere conducive to growth.
The industry is broken down into four aircraft categories: single engine piston (Mooney's category); multi-engine piston; turboprops and business jets representing over 2500 total aircraft sold in 2002. Single engine piston aircraft lead the way in 2002 with over 1440 aircraft sold worldwide. Industry leaders include Boeing Business Jets (BA) , Bombardier (Toronto Exchange: BBDa.TO), Cessna (a division of Textron Inc. (TXT) ), Cirrus Designs, Dassault, Mooney Aerospace Group (MASG) , Gulfstream (a General Dynamics Company (GD) ), Maule Air, Piaggio, Pilatus, Beechcraft (a Division of Raytheon Company (RTN) ), Socata and Piper Aircraft (American Capital Strategies (ACAS) ). Over 214,000 general aviation airplanes are currently flying in the U.S., ranging from two-seat training aircraft to business jets. Industry trade organizations include General Aviation Manufacturers Association (www.gama.aero), Aircraft Pilots Owners Associations (www.apoa.org) and National Business Aviation Association (www.nbaa.com) (Source: General Aviation Manufacturers Association 2003 Annual Industry Overview).
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "Act"). In particular, when used in the preceding discussion, the words "plan," "confident that," "believe," "scheduled," "expect," or "intend to," and similar conditional expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Act and are subject to the safe harbor created by the Act. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and actual results could differ materially from those expressed in any of the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, market conditions, the availability of components and successful production of the Company's products, general acceptance of the Company's products and technologies, competitive factors, timing and other risks described in the Company's SEC reports and filings.
SOURCE: Mooney Aerospace Group, Ltd.
Mooney Aerospace
Terry Freeman (Public & Investor Relations), 830-792-2935
Tfreeman@mooney.com
or
PMR and Associates, llc
Patrick M. Rost, 858-350-0409
pmrandco@aol.com
www.pmrandco.com |
