Financially Speaking . . . EADS

Finanancial reports are in from EADS’: macro-economic and commercial environment is gradually improving but remains challenging. Proactive order-book management and robust deliveries across all businesses continued throughout the first quarter. Revenues stood at € 9.0 billion. The EBIT* before one-off amounted to € 0.15 billion thanks to good performance in Airbus legacy programmes as well as space and defence activities. It was weighed down by A380 and hedge deterioration. EADS’ EBIT* amounted to € 83 million after exceptional foreign exchange effects. The order intake of € 14.4 billion reflects improving commercial momentum in a challenging market environment. The Group’s order book of € 416 billion provides a solid platform for future deliveries. EADS’ Net Cash position of € 8.8 billion remains a strong asset.

“I am cautiously optimistic that our industry is slowly on its way back up. Economic indicators signal a recovery trend of the global economy. This has a clear positive impact on air traffic. But recent turbulence on the financial markets also reminds us that the crisis is not yet fully behind us. Volatility is still high, particularly due to the weakness of some Euro-zone economies. Due to the corresponding strengthening of the Dollar, EADS should benefit in the mid- and long-term if the Dollar trend is confirmed”, said Louis Gallois, CEO of EADS. “The key priority for this year is to deliver on our programmes. We need to progress with the A380, to finalise the contract amendment with the Customer Nations on A400M, while moving forward on the technical side and to step up the development of the A350.”

The entire report is available here.