26 January 2011 Last updated at 11:03 ET

Boeing profits fall on fewer deliveries

Boeing recently announced another delay to its 787 Dreamliner project

Boeing has said its profits fell in the final three months of 2010 as it delivered fewer planes than expected.

The world's largest plane maker posted a net profit of $1.16bn (£732m), down 8% on a year earlier. But profits for the full year jumped 152% to $3.3bn.

A favourable tax settlement and a charitable trust contribution helped to boost both figures, the company said.

Last week, the company announced a further delay in delivering its new 787 Dreamliner plane.

Following an onboard fire on a test plane, the delivery date for its first 787 will be sometime during the third quarter of this year, more than three years overdue.

"Boeing delivered strong operating performance and exceptional cash generation from core production and services businesses in 2010, which helped mitigate the impact of development programme challenges," said company chairman Jim McNerney.

'Large' order book

The fall in profit in the final quarter of last year was partly down to an 11% drop in revenue to $8.2bn at Boeing's commercial plane division.

Revenue at the company's defence, space and security division also came in at $8.2bn, a fall of 4% on a year earlier.

Boeing shares fell 3.4% in early trading in New York as a result.

Despite the drop in profits and revenue, Mr McNerney said the company was well-positioned for growth this year, with "a large order book and increasing global demand for commercial aeroplanes".

However, projected profits for 2011 were well below analysts' expectations.

Boeing said that this year's results would be hit by "higher pension expenses, the revised 787 schedule and the current defence contracting environment".