Airbus Group reported strong first half results on Wednesday due to higher deliveries of commercial aircraft and helicopters and the company expects its sales for the year to be level with 2013.
Net income soared 50 percent to $1.5 billion from $1 billion in the first half of 2013 as all three of the companies operating groups made a contribution to the bottom line. Operating income at the Airbus commercial airplane division was up 24 percent and 17 percent at Airbus Helicopters. The defense and space business posted a 3 percent gain in operating income.
The European company’s earnings benefited from the sale of its Paris headquarters building.
Sales in the first half were up 6 percent to $36.4 billion from $34.4 billion, led by higher unit deliveries and a favorable product mix at Airbus, the company’s largest segment, and higher deliveries at Airbus Helicopters. Sales at Airbus Defense and Space were off a percent.
“The first half of 2014 was all about keeping our main development and series programs on track and implementing our restructuring plans in defense and space,” Tom Enders, Airbus Group CEO, said in a statement. “We saw good commercial order momentum at Farnborough and have shown our commitment to ensure the group’s long-term competitiveness through the A330neo [commercial aircraft] launch and the joint venture in space launchers.”
Airbus Group and France’s
Safran in June announced the formation of a 50-50 joint venture for the space launch business with a focus on proposing a new family of launch vehicles that can better compete for commercial and government business. On Wednesday the company’s said that Alain Charmeau, head of space operations at Airbus Defense and Space, has been nominated to lead the future Space Launcher Joint Venture as CEO. The company’s also nominated Marc Ventre, deputy CEO and chief operating officer at Safran, to be chairman of the joint venture.
“Our nominations today are an important milestone in the creation of the joint venture and towards a more integrated, more efficient and hence more profitable launcher business in Europe,” Enders stated. “The management is tasked with a clear mission: to improve competitiveness of the future European launcher business. This objective is without alternative for me. Either we fundamentally drive change in this sector or we risk becoming irrelevant very soon.”
Airbus Group’s orders in the first half were $37.1 billion.
The company said its expects sales in 2014 to be similar to 2013 results.