Moody's places Boeing ratings on review for downgrade
(Reuters) -Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday said it was considering downgrading Boeing's "Baa2" senior unsecured rating and "Prime-2" short-term rating.
"Placing the ratings on review for downgrade follows Moody's belief that Boeing will be unable to deliver 737 narrow-body aircraft at the volumes required for it to materially expand its free cash flow and retire debt in a reasonable timeframe," the agency said.
The Baa2-backed long-term revenue bond and VMIG 2-backed short-term revenue bond, issued by the Miami-Dade County Industrial Development Authority, were also placed on review for downgrade.
The U.S. planemaker has been wrestling with a growing crisis following a January mid-air panel blowout on a 737 MAX plane that resulted in a shakeup among its top management on Monday.
Boeing referred to a comment last week from CFO Brian West who said, “The path to stable financials is a stable factory and that's what we're focused on right now.”
(Reporting by Pratyush Thakur in Bengalur; additional reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal; editing by Shailesh Kuber, Maju Samuel and Mark Porter)
