B/E Aerospace to Cut 55 Jobs

When it comes to space we tend to think of airplanes as the property of the airlines and we do not give it much thought when it comes to the people who make them. One of those companies who, at least in part, makes those planes is B/E Aerospace. For those of you who are not familiar with the company here is a look at how they have chosen to describe themselves, “B/E Aerospace is the worldwide leading manufacturer of aircraft passenger cabin interior products for the commercial and business jet aircraft markets.  B/E Aerospace is also the leading global distributor of aerospace fasteners.  B/E Aerospace has leading worldwide market shares in all of its major product lines and serves virtually all of the world’s airlines, aircraft manufacturers and leasing companies through its direct global sales and customer support organizations.

Well, apparently the company is hoping to keep doing all of that without a number of their workers.  The company sent a WARN notice to the state of Florida notifying them that they are going to be getting rid of 55 workers in the near future. A WARN notice is sent to the state before a mass layoff action is taken by the company. For those of you who are not familiar with the idea of a mass layoff action here is a look at how the federal government defines the term, “The Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program collects reports on mass layoff actions that result in workers being separated from their jobs. Monthly mass layoff numbers are from establishments which have at least 50 initial claims for unemployment insurance (UI) filed against them during a 5-week period. Extended mass layoff numbers (issued quarterly) are from a subset of such establishments—where private sector nonfarm employers indicate that 50 or more workers were separated from their jobs for at least 31 days.” On the bright side when a mass layoff action is on tap the company has to give the workers several weeks of notice before the workers can be put out of the building and onto the unemployment rolls.

Interestingly enough the company has put out some optimistic numbers on its second quarter reports, “Second quarter 2012 revenues of $768.1 million were a record for any quarter, and increased $159.2 million, or 26.1 percent, as compared with the same period of the prior year. Pro forma revenue growth, giving effect to all acquisitions completed during 2011 and 2012 as if they had occurred on January 1, 2011, was 17.6 percent. Exclusive of items, second quarter 2012 operating earnings of $142.0 million increased 33.1 percent on the aforementioned 26.1 percent increase in revenues and operating margin of 18.5 percent expanded 100 basis points as compared with the prior year period, while net earnings and net earnings per diluted share were $74.0 million and $0.72 per share, respectively, increases of 35.0 percent and 33.3 percent, respectively, as compared with the second quarter of 2011…Second quarter 2012 bookings were strong at approximately $770 million, and the book to bill ratio was 1 to 1.” So one has to wonder why a company that is doing well needs to send workers to the unemployment line?