16 May 12. EADS (stock exchange symbol: EAD) delivered a good start to the year with a solid financial performance in the first quarter, particularly thanks to the continued strong commercial momentum. As anticipated, defence markets in the Western world continue to be strained. However, the momentum of EADS’ institutional and governmental business in the first three months was encouraging. Order intake in the first three months reached € 12.0bn. At the end of March, EADS’ order book stood at € 526.2bn. Revenues amounted to € 11.4bn. The EBIT before one-off of around € 0.5bn benefited from good performance in Airbus, Eurocopter and Astrium while Cassidian remained stable. The reported EBIT amounted to € 0.3bn. The Net Cash position remained robust at € 10.7bn.
“Demand for commercial aircraft and civil helicopters remains healthy and our institutional business fared reasonably well despite European budget pressures and an uncertain economic environment. This led to better-than expected revenues and EBIT* before one-off in the first quarter, which strongly confirms the level of our 2012 performance targets. Moreover, the Airbus team has found a permanent solution to the A380 wing rib feet issues”, said Louis Gallois, CEO of EADS. “As we transition to the new leadership team, management will continue to have its sights set on key programmes, particularly A380, A350 and A400M heading towards the in-service phase. We will also continue to seek a satisfactory outcome to discussions on the future of government programmes.”
In the first three months, EADS’ revenues increased 16 percent to
€ 11.4bn (Q1 2011: € 9.9bn) with more favourable phasing than in Q1 2011. The growth in revenues is primarily driven by increased activity across all Divisions. Defence revenues increased by 18 percent. Deliveries continued to be at a high level with 131 aircraft at Airbus Commercial, 72 helicopters at Eurocopter and the 47th consecutive successful Ariane 5 launch.
EBIT* before one-off – an indicator capturing the underlying business margin by excluding non-recurring charges or profits caused by movements in provisions or foreign exchange impacts – stood at around €480m (Q1 2011: around € 230m) for EADS and at around € 320m for Airbus (Q1 2011: around € 160m). Compared to Q1 2011, the EBIT* before one-off improvement was driven by the profitability of Airbus series programmes combined with A380 improvement despite higher Research & Development and hedge rate deterioration of matured hedges. Favourable mix and pricing at Eurocopter and the contribution of Vizada at Astrium also contributed to the Group’s EBIT* before one-off improvement. Finally, the EBIT* before one-off also improved at Headquarters due to positive Group elimination and increased allocation of management fees to Divisions.
During the first quarter, EADS implemented close to $ 10bn of new hedges at an average rate of € 1 = $ 1.32, which enhances stability of the Group’s future financial performance. At the end of March, EADS’ total hedge portfolio stood at $ 80.3bn.
EADS’ reported EBIT* increased to € 343m (Q1 2011: € 192m), driven by the improvement of the EBIT* before one-off. This quarter, the dollar mismatch and balance sheet revaluation had a positive impact on the EBIT* of around € 20m. The A380 wing rib technical fix is now defined. The implementation of the retrofit fix will have a negative cost impact, which led EADS to take an additional charge of € 158 m as a one-off to cover the repair costs of the 71 aircraft delivered at the end of March.
Net Income rose to €133m (Q1 2011: €-12m), or earnings per share of € 0.16 (earnings per share Q1 2011: €-0.01). The Net Income*
before one-off increased to €259m (Q1 2011: €101m). These increases are mainly driven by the operational improvement reflected in the EBIT*, which is flowing down to the Net Income.
The finance result amounts to €-143m (Q1 2011: €-197m). The interest result of €-73m (Q1 2011: €-