The European aerospace and defence giant attributed these figures to the deterioration of its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), which registered a loss of €322m compared with €2.83bn in 2008.
The company said in a statement that EBIT was hampered by charges related to the troubled A400M programme and costs associated with building the A380, plus the impact of exceptional negative foreign exchange rates. In total, exchange rate impacts weighed down 2009 EBIT by € 2.5bn compared with 2008.
Consequently, EADS stated that it will not be paying a dividend to its shareholders due to losses. The company has also withdrawn its joint bid with Northrop Grumman to the US Department of Defense for the KC-X air-tanker programme.
EADS’s order book, however, stands at €389bn and its net cash position is described as solid at €9.8bn. Highlights by segment include revenues growing at Astrium by 12 per cent.
The company is increasing its R&D spend to €2.82bn to encourage new technologies and future business and production of the single-aisle A320 will be ramped up from December 2010 from 34 to 36 per month.
Red Bull makes hydrogen fuel cell play with AVL
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