PARIS: Airbus Group showed stellar performance in the first half (H1) of the year, raising net profits by half with sales of airliners, it reported yesterday.
The results coupled with a confirmed outlook for performance, pushed Airbus shares up sharply.
The group said that net profit jumped by 50 percent from the equivalent figure last year to €1.4bn in the first half.
The underlying profit margin rose to 6.5 percent of sales from 6.3 percent, and sales rose by 6 percent to €27.2bn. The group said it was holding to its targets for moderate growth of operating profitability.
In 2015, it expected profitability of 7percent to 8 percent excluding the costs of developing the A330neo, the fuel-efficient version of the A330 aircraft.
The European aerospace group, which has changed its name from EADS, builds equipment for the defence and space industries, but most of its sales and profits come from making Airbus airliners.
In common with its main rival, US group Boeing, it has taken huge orders for airliners in the last 18 months.
The boom comes as airlines around the world replenish their fleets now that the financial strains of the global crisis are easing, and also because airlines in emerging markets are growing fast as air traffic is expected to do in the next decade.
Demand for the group’s products was strong, as shown by activity at the Farnborough air show in Britain in July where the company had taken orders and commitments for 496 airliners, it said in a statement.
This confirmed the health of the market for commercial aircraft, it said. The price of shares in the group was showing a gain of 5.21 percent to €45.96 in late morning trading. The overall French market as measured by the CAC 40 index was down 0.13 percent.
Airbus also said that it was looking at ways of selling its stake of 46.32 percent in French company Dassault Aviation which makes fighter jets and small commercial aircraft, an investment which it considers is not strategic. Shares in this company rose by 1.21 percent to €1,120.
AFP
