OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings views United Technologies Corporation's (UTC) planned sale of Sikorsky as neutral to UTC's credit ratings, although there will be a negative near-term impact on leverage and other credit metrics due to the loss of earnings and cash flow. Sikorsky generated approximately 6.5% of UTC's segment profit in 2014 excluding the impact of special charges, but Fitch believes growth in UTC's financial results should enable the company to strengthen its credit measures to current levels within 18-24 months. UTC would lose some diversification, but the reduction is mitigated by UTC's large size and good balance between aerospace and commercial businesses. The transaction will leave UTC with businesses focused on systems used in the aerospace and buildings industries.

UTC agreed to sell Sikorsky Aircraft to Lockheed Martin Corp. for $9 billion in cash. UTC plans to use net proceeds from the transaction to repurchase shares. UTC's cash deployment for shareholders, in the absence of debt reduction, would increase debt/EBITDA slightly from 2.1x at March 31, 2015, which is already above some similarly rated peers, and leave the company incrementally more exposed to unexpected negative developments.

Leverage in early 2015 has remained higher than expected by Fitch, partly due to $3 billion of share repurchases in the first quarter of 2015 that was partly funded with debt. Fitch anticipates a portion of the increase in debt will be reduced during the rest of the year. Concerns about high leverage are mitigated by UTC's operating stability and consistent free cash flow (FCF) which reduce its sensitivity to economic cycles and provides the capacity to reduce debt at the company's discretion.

Sikorsky is UTC's lowest-margin segment and the outlook for long term revenue growth is not as high as the 4%-8% range expected in UTC's other segments. Also, program development risk associated with Sikorsky's helicopters has occasionally led to significant charges. In UTC's remaining aerospace businesses which include Pratt & Whitney and Aerospace Systems, the proportion of profitable aftermarket aerospace revenue following the sale of Sikorsky will be modestly higher at over 50%.

Fitch currently rates UTC and its subsidiaries as follows:

United Technologies Corporation
--Issuer Default Rating (IDR) 'A';
--Senior unsecured bank credit facilities 'A';
--Senior unsecured notes 'A';
--Junior subordinated notes 'A-';
--Short-term IDR 'F1';
--Commercial paper 'F1'.

Goodrich Corporation:
--IDR 'A';
--Senior unsecured notes 'A'.

The Rating Outlook is Stable.