European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co (EADS), maker of Airbus planes, returned to profit last year and said yesterday it was set to deal with the crisis faced by client airlines despite a mixed outlook for this year.
The European aerospace group beat forecasts with a net profit last year of 1.57 billion euros (US$1.99 billion).
“We made significant headway in reshaping the company,” EADS chief executive Louis Gallois said in a statement.
In 2007, the problem-plagued group posted a loss of 446 million euros and for last year analysts were expecting a net profit of around 1.32 billion euros.
EADS is now “in a good position to face the crisis” that has slammed the air transport industry although it had “a low level of visibility for the second half of this year and beyond” as the economic slump cuts demand.
EADS also acknowledged difficulties with its A400M military transport plane but Gallois said: “Even if the A400M program required enormous attention, the group has regained stability in 2008 and is proving to be resilient in the face of the turbulent global economic environment.”
The A400M has been hit by delays, with its first flight postponed to an undetermined date because of problems with its engines, and “could lead to a significant charge” on core earnings this year. The program is running more than three years late and cut just over 700 million euros from EADS earnings last year.
But the group also expects Airbus to win 300 to 400 new orders this year. Last year, Airbus delivered a record 483 aircraft to customers, including 12 A380 super jumbos, while the Eurocopter unit also had record deliveries of 588 helicopters.
Meanwhile, operating profit came to 2.8 billion euros, better than analysts forecasts of 2.42 billion euros and well above the group’s own forecast last March of 1.8 billion euros. Sales climbed 11 percent to 43.3 billion euros despite the industry slump.
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