Thales reports growth

Thales today issued strong results for 2008, showing revenues of €12.7bn (£11.3bn), an order intake of €14.3bn and projected growth of between three and five per cent in 2009.

In Britain, Thales UK has been described as having an exceptional year, with order intake from UK and export customers accounting for more than £2.4bn.

Contract highlights for Thales UK include the £425m Aircraft Carrier programme and the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft programme, worth £285m.

Additional order intake associated with Piccadilly Line upgrade and contract changes on the Jubilee and Northern lines, the Air Defence Availability Project and work on the Manchester Metrolink, contributed £532m to Thales UK’s orders.

These and other notable achievements - including an agreement to supply in-flight entertainment systems for installation onboard British Airways’s new delivery and next-generation aircraft - strengthened Thales UK’s order backlog to more than £4bn.

‘In an environment marked by a combination of major challenges, Thales has confirmed its solid performance in 2008, with revenues increasing by eight per cent on an organic basis, an order book worth almost two years of revenues and a consolidated profitability,’ said Denis Ranque, Thales’s chairman and CEO.

In May, Thales’s board of directors will propose that the general meeting of shareholders approve a dividend of €1.05 per share, an increase of five per cent.