27 July 2011 Last updated at 16:45 ET

Boeing soars to higher profit

Boeing's outlook for the year has strengthened

US planemaker Boeing has reported a 20% rise in second-quarter profit and raised its earnings forecast for 2011.

Net profit in the April to June period rose to $941m (£575m) from $787m a year earlier.

Boeing said the result reflected higher volumes of commercial aeroplanes and strong core performance across the company's businesses.

Its earnings per share guidance is now between $3.90 and $4.10, up from between $3.80 and $4 per share.

Revenues in the quarter rose 6% to $16.5bn.

Boeing delivered 118 commercial plans, four more than the same quarter last year.

But it said that "lower planned deliveries on development programmes" meant that it now expects to deliver between 485 and 495 commercial aircraft in the year, down from between 485 and 500.

Investors welcomed the improved profit and revenue figures.

"These are good results. Boeing does look to be in a very much better position than it has been seen for several years," said Howard Wheeldon at BGC Partners.

Boeing shares were the biggest riser on the Dow Jones index in New York, closing up 0.7%.