The US-based aerospace manufacturer Boeing maintains its posture as the top prime in the aerospace and defence industry.
Brand valuation consultancy firm Brand Finance identified Boeing as the leading brand in 2023 in its annual report of company valuations in the aerospace and defence industry. Boeing leads with a 13% brand value increase to $17.5bn. Meanwhile, Europe’s Airbus is said to follow closely behind, standing at 4% below its main competitor, but with a brand value up 9% to $14.4bn.
Brand Finance found that Boeing’s continued valuation success is due to the increased demand for commercial aircraft following the recovery of the airline sector as a result of a return to global travel following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Boeing’s brand value does however remain 23% lower than its pre-pandemic value, highlighting the significant impact that the widespread shutdown of global travel had on the brand and that further growth needs to be implemented in order to sustain the brand’s recovery.
Crucially, Boeing managed to secure a number of important partnerships, including Air India’s selection of up to 290 Boeing jets to expand its future fleet. Boeing also continues to serve the US Air Force, being awarded a number of lucrative contracts to provide tanker aircraft and additional Next Generation Automated Test Systems in early 2023.
However, Airbus has overtaken rival Boeing to become the strongest Aerospace & Defence brand. Its Brand Strength Index Score was 82 out of 100, up 3.4 points year-on-year, with a corresponding AAA- rating. The company is also the second most valuable brand in the ranking.
As well as this, Brand Finance reports that the German brands, Rheinmetall and MTU are the fastest growing brands in the aerospace and defence industry. Rheinmetall has seen the fastest year-on-year brand value growth of 33% to $1.1bn due to its military arm supplying the war against Russia.
Unique industry trends
Moreover, data and analytics company GlobalData similarly accounted for Boeing’s 2022 revenue of $66m exceeding Airbus’ $61m. It was also found that while Brand Finance placed Boeing in the top spot for its brand value, GlobalData found that the company’s 2022 annual revenue fell short of Raytheon Technologies’ $67m.
GlobalData also provides more in-depth data noting uniquely emerging trends in the industry beyond company valuation that may catch the eye of the investor.
GlobalData assert that 36 of all 55 deals in Q4 2022 were related to the robotics and uncrewed systems. The proliferation of uncrewed system technology has meant that traditional anti-air systems are too costly when targeting these small vehicles. This has led to more novel cheaper per-shot systems, such as direct energy weapons.
