Brazil's Embraer reports 2023 aircraft deliveries slightly below guidance

By Peter Frontini

SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Brazilian planemaker Embraer reported on Tuesday deliveries of 75 jets in the fourth quarter, making both its executive and commercial jets slightly miss the full-year delivery guidance.

The company delivered 49 executive jets in the last three months of the year, bringing the annual total to 115 aircraft, compared to its guidance of a range of 120-130 jets.

The business "continued its sales momentum with sustained demand across its entire product portfolio," the company said.

Commercial aircraft delivered in the quarter reached 25 units, taking the yearly figure to 64, also below Embraer's guidance of between 65 and 70.

Embraer, the world's third-largest planemaker behind Boeing and Airbus, said it "continues to face supply chain delays which have affected 2023 deliveries."

The company had previously said some deliveries scheduled for the third quarter had to be moved to the next one due to supply chain issues.

Despite the miss, total deliveries grew 13% to 181 in 2023, including two aircraft from its defense and security unit.

Its firm order backlog grew by $1.2 billion from 2022, ending the year at $18.7 billion, the highest since the first quarter of 2018, Embraer said.

"Delivery figures were a bit short of our expectations," analysts at JPMorgan said in a note to clients.

However, they expect "a positive reaction as deliveries were above Cirium and buy-side consensus data, while backlog also reached the highest level since 2018 with all segments showing a year-on-year increase."

(Reporting by Peter Frontini; Editing by Brendan O'Boyle and Chris Reese)