EADS STRONG – THALES SHOWS RESILIENCE
10 Nov 11. EADS (stock exchange symbol: EAD) announced better than expected nine-month results. The commercial aircraft momentum remains robust despite recent turbulence in the macro environment, but the defence markets in the Western world are under pressure as anticipated. In the first nine months of 2011, the order intake reached €93.9bn. EADS’ order book stood at a record level of €503bn. Revenues amounted to € 32.7bn. The EBIT* before one-off of around €1.1bn was mainly driven by operational improvement from Eurocopter and Airbus commercial activities as well as some favourable phasing in Airbus and in Headquarters. The reported EBIT* amounted to €885m. Cash-flow generation remained strong and led to a Net Cash position of €11.4bn after acquisitions.
”Our nine-month results are better than expected thanks to the Group’s efforts to improve performance. I am confident the commercial aircraft market combined with our strong backlog will sustain our growth in the years to come. On the basis of existing contracts, EADS is ready to enter into discussions with the governments on the future of defence procurement programmes. The company’s services offering was further extended through new acquisitions”, said Louis Gallois, CEO of EADS. “Our large programme developments, especially the A350, continue to have our highest management attention.”
Maturity of the A350 XWB main components at Final Assembly start remains one of the Group’s top priorities. Start of Final Assembly is now scheduled for Q1 2012 and Entry-into-Service is now scheduled for H1 2014.
In the first nine months, EADS’ revenues increased 4 percent to €32.7bn (9m 2010: €31.6bn). This growth is driven by Airbus Commercial, Eurocopter and Astrium. Physical deliveries remained at a high level with 374 aircraft at Airbus Commercial, 323 helicopters at Eurocopter and the 46th consecutive successful Ariane 5 launch.
EBIT* before one-off (adjusted EBIT*) – 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 €1.1bn (9m 2010: €0.8bn) for EADS and at around €0.4bn for Airbus (9m 2010: around €0.3bn). The increase compared to last year is mainly driven by operational improvement at Airbus and Eurocopter and some favourable phasing at Airbus and in Headquarters. EADS’ reported EBIT* stood at €885m (9m 2010: €784m).
With the A350 XWB Entry-into-Service now in H1 2014, Airbus Commercial
booked a charge of €200m for this programme in the third quarter.
Reported EBIT* includes a positive one-off due to the termination of the A340 programme of €192m. The US dollar mismatch and balance sheet revaluation had a negative impact on EADS’ EBIT* result of around
€50m at the end of September. In the first nine months, Eurocopter
booked a net charge of around €120m, thereof €60m in the third quarter. These net charges mainly relate to governmental programmes and SHAPE.
Net Income more than doubled to €421m (9m 2010: €198m), or earnings per share of €0.52 (earnings per share 9m 2010: €0.24). The improvement is driven by the Net Income before one-off(4) , which increased to €565m (9m 2010: €304m) thanks to better operational earnings.
The finance result amounts to €-212m (9m 2010: €-452m). The interest result of €-9m (9m 2010: €-176m) improved thanks to a positive one-off of €120m due to the termination of the A340 programme. Furthermore, the 2011 average net cash position is higher than the 2010 level. Meanwhile, the other financial result amounts to €-203m (9m 2010: € -276 m). This line includes, among others, a negative revaluation of EADS’ options for around €60m and the unwinding of discounted provisions for a negative amount of around €110m.
Self-financed Research & Development (R&D) expenses increased to
€2,151m (9m 2010: €2,038m), driven mainly by development on the A350 XWB prog