CAE Inc. (NYSE:CAE) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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And I was encouraged by the fact that when the Canadian government announced the F-35, they announced that simulation-based training will be done that Airforce base and Cold Lake. So, I think it’s a natural for CAE to be involved here. And look, I think this is a generational moment for Canada’s national security, I think Canada has chosen well in terms of the fighter for men and women in uniform and for Canada’s national sovereignty. But here many clean jobs in Canadian innovations at . Canada needs to seize this opportunity of the investment we’re making here. And we can’t afford to miss this unique opportunity to create and protect the next generation of aerospace dollars in Canada as well. We’re part of that, and I fully expect us to be part of that.

Cameron Doerksen: Okay. That’s great. Thanks very much.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question on the line is from Fadi Chamoun with BMO. Go ahead.

Fadi Chamoun: Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. Marc, if business aviation flight hours end up being down 5%, 10% this year because of the economy or in the next 12 months, I guess, is there levers within CAE based on, kind of the recent acquisitions you’ve done and your positioning on to continue to grow in that side of the business?

Marc Parent: Absolutely, Fadi. Look, the fleet is still growing. The amount of new pilot demand, we can €“ we have trouble meeting it now. I can tell you, you know I’m a pilot. I can see it myself, but our training centers, want to exaggerate, we can’t find a parking space 7 days a week. So, I’m not overly concerned about a slight drop in the flight hours. I mean, we’re seeing a very, very hot market for business heavy training. We’re continuing to add capacity. Our Las Vegas training center has just come online. So is Singapore. Savanna will be online next year. We have a training center Orlando opening up with our JV partner, Directional Capital, which is our SIMCOM training center opening up in Orlando. And I can tell you that we have demand focused for coming into those training centers. So, I’m not too worried about that just dropped in flight hours that could occur.

Fadi Chamoun: Okay. That’s great color. The second follow-up question is really on defense. I mean, we have six quarters now of expansion in terms of the order levels and the outlook is positive for that to continue. When do we start to really experience this, kind of demand momentum into the margin with a greater, kind of influence. Is this more of a fiscal 2025 story or fiscal 2024? Just trying to understand the trajectory of how these headwinds from supply chain and mix in the backlog, kind of come off versus returning to a more normal margin in that segment?

Marc Parent: Well, look, it’s going to be steady progress. That’s what I see. The headwinds that we see €“ I mean as you will imagine, we’re not sitting on our hands not doing anything about it. We’re doing something about it, but it takes time. It takes time to hire people. It takes time for them in the defense sector to get the proper security clearances that we need for them to be able to execute on some of the programs we have. This is going to take several quarters to abate and it gets, but it gets better every quarter. We know what parts we need on the contracts that we have. But when you need €“ when you get new contracts, you need new parts, okay? Now we get better at forecasting those things, but it’s still an issue because the supply chain is not as fast as it once was.

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