Airbus income drops more than 50% on space system charges and reduced deliveries

French plane maker's order backlog stood at 8,585 commercial aircraft at the end of last month

A H160M helicopter, made by Airbus, on display during the Farnborough International Airshow. Bloomberg

Airbus reported significantly lower second-quarter net profit as increased charges in its space systems division and reduced commercial aircraft deliveries overshadowed a rise in revenue.

The Toulouse-based company said its April-June period’s net profit had dropped 78 per cent to €230 million ($248.7 million).

Its earnings before interest and taxes fell 56 per cent to €814 million during the quarter.

The company incurred a charge of €989 million for forward losses in its space business, exceeding the estimated €900 million indicated in last month's profit warning.

Despite lower-than-expected income, Airbus stock jumped as it predicted an optimistic outlook for 2024, rising 2.58 per cent to trade at $133.58 at 10.15pm UAE time, which gave the company a market cap of $106.67 billion.

The plane maker aims to achieve about 770 commercial deliveries this year. It also forecast adjusted profit before interest and tax of €5.5 billion for this year.

It expects its free cash flow, before customer financing, to reach about €3.5 billion this year.

The company based its 2024 outlook on the assumption that there will be no further disruptions to the global economy, air traffic, supply chain, its own internal operations, or its ability to deliver products and services.

The financial performance reflects “significant charges in our space business”, said Guillaume Faury, chief executive of Airbus.

“We are addressing the root causes of these issues … in commercial aircraft, we are focused on deliveries and preparing the next steps of the ramp-up, while addressing specific supply chain challenges and protecting the sourcing of key work packages."

The company’s revenue in the June quarter surged nearly 1 per cent to more than €15.9 billion.

And its gross commercial aircraft orders totalled 327 in the January-June period, compared with 1,080 in the prior year period.

The company delivered 323 commercial aircraft during the period, up 2.2 per cent, comprising 28 A220s, 261 A320 family craft, 13 A330s and 21 A350s.

Its order backlog stood at 8,585 commercial aircraft at the end of last month.

Airbus Helicopters registered 233 net orders in the first six months of this year, from 131 units in the same period last year.

The defence and space division’s order value surged 1.6 per cent annually to €6.1 billion in the same period.

Last week, Saudi Arabia's budget airline Flynas signed an agreement for up to 160 Airbus Neo jets, which includes options for 70 aircraft, at the Farnborough International Airshow in the UK.

It boosted the European aircraft maker's total to 164 aircraft orders and commitments, allowing it to pull ahead of its US competitor Boeing, which took 96 orders and commitments plus 22 options during the event.