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Aviation boosts earnings at engineering conglomerate UTC

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United Technologies Corporation, the US-based conglomerate with two aerospace factories in Wolverhampton, has seen earnings on the rise boosted by improving aviation and elevator work.

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Strong results helped push profits for the second quarter up to $1.68 billion (£983bn) from $1.56bn a year ago. Revenue was up 7.4% to $17.2bn.

The 8% profit hike saw UTC more bullish about its prospects for the rest of the year.

Chief executive and chairman Louis Chenevert said: "Our focus on growth opportunities and execution in our core markets resulted in another solid quarter. We saw a fourth consecutive quarter of organic sales growth, along with strong margin expansion."

Among the headline figures,The group's UTC Aerospace Systems arm ,which includes the Wolverhampton flight controls factory, saw orders for commercial spares jump 28%.

More than 1,000 people work at the flight controls factory, formerly owned by Goodrich, on the Stafford Road. It supplies a range of flight control systems for commercial and defence, currently used on the Airbus A350, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning jet fighter.

Another 320 work at its sister factory, Marston Aerospace, around the corner on Wobaston Road, which makes heat exchangers – used to cool oil and air and heat fuel in aircraft.

The Wobaston Road site is due to close next year and its operations will move into a 95,000 sq ft base at the Stafford Road factory next year. The move will result in the loss of 60 jobs.