CEO Nelson: "Business Has Never Been Better"

Look for changes in the system that propells Ballistic Recovery Systems parachutes from their containers. That word comes from Chairman and CEO Robert Nelson, and his new president and COO, Larry Williams. Both spoke in an interview by the Wall Street Transcript.

Most aviation afficianados will tell you BRS's core business is the design, manufacturing and marketing of whole-aircraft recovery parachute systems for use with general aviation and recreational aircraft. The on-board emergency parachute systems are designed to safely assist an aircraft and its occupants in the event of an in-air emergency. Over the company's 25 year history, BRS has sold nearly 20,000 of its whole-plane parachute systems; and these have been documented to have saved over 177 lives.

In describing the company's clients, Nelson said, "The owners of Cirrus, the airplane company, decided that they wanted to add a parachute on their certified airplane. The Cirrus airplane did come out about eight years ago with our product as standard, and since then, the Cirrus airplane has now become the number one airplane in that marketplace, producing somewhere around 600 to 650 units sold last year."

What about finances? "As Chairperson," Nelson told the Transcript, "I always think there's area for improvement, but we probably today are in the best financial shape we've ever been. Larry has guided us pretty nicely there. There is essentially no debt at all, and we're doing about 40% GM."

What's next for BRS?

"When you look at where we are today" said Nelson, "we are using a rocket-propelled engine to extract the parachute. Ultimately, we probably will look at some type of alternative to that rocket fuel. We may look at compressed air; we may look at just anything that is out there, but right now we think we are on the leading edge of how to do this particular technology. We don't think that there's a thing that we can come up within the short run that is going to make it better or safer. So I would say, at least from my perspective, that side of our technology we are going to be with for a while, but we are continuing to look at different ways of doing things."

FMI: www.twst.com/ceos.htm, http://brsparachutes.com