Newly-released accounts for Spirit AeroSystems’ factory in Belfast, Northern Ireland, show the business in a worsening financial position amid ongoing uncertainty over its future ownership.
Auditors for the company – which is registered as Short Brothers – warn that, without additional external financial support, there are doubts about its ability to stay afloat beyond the end of September next year.
Pre-tax losses for the year ended 31 December 2024 ballooned to $506 million, up from $338 million in 2023, and the company ended the period with a net liability position of almost $1 billion, more than double the previous year’s figure.
Higher turnover, up 11% to $804 million from $723 million the year before, was offset by large one-off charges: an onerous contract provision of $260 million and an impairment charge of $143 million.
Short Brothers has previously relied on a letter of support from Spirit AeroSystems Inc, its US-registered parent, to assuage any insolvency fears. But the accounts note that “due to the deteriorating financial position of the group, a letter of support is not available in the current year”.
Having racked up billions of dollars in cumulative losses, Spirit AeroSystems in 2024 agreed to be acquired by Boeing, its main customer, while other parts of the operation are being hived off to Airbus, its other principal client.
That includes production of the wings for the A220, a key part of the Belfast site’s output.
Spirit had hoped to sell separately several other Belfast work packages: activities related to the A220’s mid-fuselage section, plus the manufacturing of structures for Bombardier’s business jet family and nacelles for Rolls-Royce.
However, Spirit on 2 July said no third-party buyer had emerged.
“It is expected for Boeing to take over the remaining Belfast site in late 2025 – and when such transaction completes, the A220 mid-fuselage programme will also be divested to Airbus,” the accounts state.
Boeing has previously expressed its intention to support the rump of the Belfast operation, promising to be “good stewards of the business”.
But with net liabilities of $944 million at the end of 2024 – a sharp increase on the $445 million recorded a year earlier – and a cash balance of just $72 million, the company is reliant on external financial support.
Assessing its ability to continue as a going concern until 30 September 2026, the accounts say the “company requires additional sources of funding during the going-concern period to meet its liabilities as they fall due”.
A baseline trading forecast predicts a cash shortfall of $222 million in the period, a position that could worsen by another $78 million if there are delays to the divestment of the A220 wing work – assumed for September 2025 – and completion of the sale to Boeing.
An additional complicating factor is the recent launch of an investigation into the deal by the UK Competition & Markets Authority, which could delay the transaction closing.
The forecast also assumes there will be no repayment of the revolving loan facility it has in place with Spirit AeroSystems (Europe) – its Prestwick, Scotland-based sister company – due on 31 December 2025.
As of 31 December 2024, Short Brothers had drawn down some $779 million of the $800 million available, a ceiling extended to $875 million in April 2025, topped up by an additional $25 million provided by Spirit AeroSystems Inc.
Additional short-term funding support from customers, on top of the $253 million already advanced by Airbus and Bombardier, is also factored in to the forecast.
The accounts were signed off on 9 July, barely three months after those for the previous year were released.
Meanwhile, on 16 July a third director was appointed to Airbus Belfast, an entity created by the airframer to absorb the A220 work in Northern Ireland.
Maarten Slee, a former executive on the A350 programme, is now an Airbus senior vice-president for special projects in its operations team, according to his LinkedIn profile. He joins fellow Airbus Belfast directors Jerome Blandin and Thorsten Fischer.
