Honeywell bets on 'simpler structure’

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The spin-off of its advanced materials business earlier this year and the planned separation of its automation and aerospace businesses provided a lift to Honeywell’s third quarter 2025 results. 

CEO Vimal Kapur told investors that the moves will allow the company to further simplify Honeywell Automation. 

“We have proactively designed a new, simpler structure aligned to the future of the business,” he said. “As we seek to better position the future independent Aerospace and Automation companies for success, we have opportunistically completed transactions to simplify the legacy liabilities left on our balance sheet.” 

Honeywell saw organic sales growth of 6% in the third quarter, exceeding the high end of guidance range, led by double-digit growth in commercial aftermarket and defense and space. 

Beginning with the first quarter of 2026, the company will report on four business segments: Aerospace Technologies, Building Automation, Process Automation and Technology, and Industrial Automation. 

Of the automation-aerospace separation, specifically, Kapur said, “This new structure serves as an elegant way to continue simplifying the remaining core portfolio and align our external segment to the way we are increasingly driving our operation through consistent business models.”  

As in the second quarter, Kapur reiterated Honeywell’s overall strategy of focusing on a limited number of high-performing verticals to sell mission-critical products and develop a strong base. The company then mines this installer base by providing high-value, outcome-based solutions with a combination of software and services. 

When asked by investors about opportunities around the boom in data centers, Kapur said they’re becoming a bigger part of Honeywell’s building automation business and contributing to growth – to a certain degree.  

“I would say that our position in safety and security in data centers is we're well positioned in that,” he said. “You're talking about more like 2% spend of data centers in this space. Spend-wise, percentages are small, but we have a good position in our fire safety systems. We have a good position in our security systems. We are increasingly improving our position in building management, and we continue to work our way through to gain more share in that market. Certainly, a lot of hyperscalers, a lot of real estate investment trusts (REIT)s, are becoming our customers.”