EADS recovers to post small 3Q profit

Airbus aircraft at Farnborough. (Airbus)

EADS has rebounded from an €87m (A$121m) loss last quarter to post a €13m (A$18m) net profit for the third quarter.

The turnaround has been driven by increased revenues from Airbus airliners, Airbus Military and the Cassidian defense and security division. “EBIT was driven by more favourable one-time effects at Airbus Commercial and Airbus Military as well as better performance at Cassidian, partially offset by higher R&D at Eurocopter,” the company said in a November 12 statement.

Overall sales in the third quarter climbed 18 per cent to €11.24bn (A$15.6bn), while net profit for the first nine months now stands at €198m (A$275m) on sales of €31.6bn (A$43.9bn), which is a drop in profit of 32 per cent from the same time last year.

“The commercial aviation sector continues its ascent which starts to be reflected in the nine-month results,” said Louis Gallois, EADS CEO. “At the same time, (defence) budget reviews in our home countries are not yet fully completed; we therefore remain attentive to challenges which could arise for our business with government customers.”