The bottom line was that Airbus earned 404 million euros in the third quarter, after the group had fallen into the red a year earlier due to high provisions for the planned job cuts of 767 million euros.
(Photo: Reuters)
Paris After the corona crisis, things are going better again at Airbus. The European aircraft manufacturer is optimistic for the current year. The third quarter of the current financial year was positive. Airbus presented the figures on Thursday and raised the profit target for the current year again. The group is also sticking to its delivery target. Business had already gone well again in the summer. This means that Airbus continues to have an advantage over its competitor Boeing.
“We keep the strong performance”, emphasized Airbus boss Guillaume Faury in a call with journalists. “As the global recovery continues, we are closely monitoring possible risks for our industry.” The group is concentrating on securing the ramp-up of the A320 family. In the supply chain and in the capacities of the industry there is still a bit of a slowdown after Corona. “We strive to provide the right capacities in the industry and in the supply chain.” Faury did not want to disclose where there is the greatest problem in order not to criticize individual suppliers.
In nine months, sales increased by 17 percent compared to the previous year to 35.15 billion euros, and net profit to 2.63 billion euros. The group plans to hand over around 600 commercial aircraft to its customers this year. Last year, Airbus delivered 566 aircraft to customers. In the first nine months of the current year there were 424 units (341 in the same period last year).
The operating profit before interest and taxes adjusted for special effects is now expected to reach around 4.5 billion euros for the current year. Airbus had already raised its forecast to around four billion euros in the summer. Compared to last year with 1.706 billion euros, this is a strong increase. But still less than the adjusted operating profit of 2019 of 6.46 billion euros, in the year before the corona crisis.
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In the months of July to September, sales fell by six percent to 10.518 billion euros. Adjusted operating profit decreased by 19 percent to 666 million euros in the third quarter compared to the same period of the previous year. But in the first nine months it comes to around 3.4 billion euros. The group earned so far the bottom line in the third quarter of 404 million euros, a year earlier it had been in the red with 767 million euros due to high provisions for planned job cuts. The group earned EUR 0.51 per share, compared with a loss of EUR 0.98.
The turnover is slightly below the journalists’ expectations of 10.7 billion euros, the EBIT above it. Analysts had expected 623 million euros. The result of the share was also slightly better than the EUR 0.46 that was expected. The free cash flow is now expected to reach 2.5 billion instead of 2 billion in the current year. In the first nine months of the year, the group already came to 2.3 billion euros. Airbus wants to boost production of the A320 family. Before the crisis, 40 of the family’s aircraft were made. In the fourth quarter it should be 45 per month, for summer 2023 there are already 65 expected.
More: You can find all current company figures in our news blog