By Allison Lampert and Nivedita Bhattacharjee
Feb 15 (Reuters) - Canadian train and plane maker Bombardier BBDb.TO on Thursday beat quarterly profit estimates, driven by an improvement in both sales and margins in its rail division.
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. will be a pivotal year for Bombardier," Chief Executive Officer Alain Bellemare said. "We are moving out of our investment cycle and into a strong growth cycle."
Revenue at its transportation unit, which includes rail, rose 28 percent to $2.49 billion during the quarter.
The company, which in October agreed to sell a controlling stake in its CSeries jetliner to European planemaker Airbus SE AIR.PA for $1, reported $304 million in earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for the fourth quarter of 2017, compared with $203 million in the same period a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, the company made 2 cents per share, compared with analysts' expectations it would break even, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Bellemere said the company would focus on delivering major rail projects and closing the Airbus partnership this year.
Revenue for the Montreal-based company rose 8 percent to $4.72 billion and its EBITDA margin before special items rose to 6.4 percent from 4.6 percent.
Bombardier also said it increased its ownership in its transportation division, from 70 percent to 72.5 percent. In 2015, Quebec's largest pension fund, the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ), took a 30 percent stake in the division for $1.5 billion.