Feb 15 (Reuters) - Canadian train and plane maker Bombardier BBDb.TO on Thursday reported a 50 percent rise in its most-watched measure of earnings in the fourth quarter of 2017, driven by improvement in both sales and margins.
The company reported $304 million in earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in the fourth quarter of 2017, compared with $203 million in the same period a year earlier.
Revenue rose 8 percent to $4.715 billion and its EBITDA margin before special items rose to 6.4 percent from 4.6 percent. The company's overall net loss also narrowed to $109 million from $259 million a year ago.
Bombardier is in the middle of a five-year turnaround plan to cut costs and boost margins, after years of heavy investments in two new aircraft programs pushed it to the brink of bankruptcy in 2015.