Bombardier posts surprise profit

(Reuters) - Canada's Bombardier Inc posted a surprise quarterly profit on Friday and said it expected 2017 earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) to be at the higher end of its forecast.

The Montreal-based plane and train manufacturer had forecast EBIT before special items to be in the range of $580 million-$630 million.

Adjusted net income, which excludes some items, was $39 million or 2 cents per share, in the second quarter ended June 30, compared with a loss of $83 million or 6 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected Bombardier to post a loss of 1 cent per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Bombardier is in the middle of a five-year turnaround plan to improve its financial performance after facing a cash crunch in 2015.

Revenue fell 5 percent to $4.10 billion in the quarter due to a decline in sales in its business aircraft and commercial aircraft segments. [nCCNhDxyBa]

Sales in the transportation unit - Bombardier's biggest - rose to $1.98 billion from $1.96 billion.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)