Airbus first-half net profit halved to 825 mn euros

Airbus said Tuesday that its net profit in the first half year fell 46 percent to 825 million euros ($890 million), dragged down by a massive writedown in its space operations.

Overall, revenue in the first half of the year rose 4 percent to 28.8 billion euros as its commercial aircraft deliveries rose by seven planes to 323.

Airbus announced in June that it had decided to make a roughly 900-million-euro charge against first-half earnings after an extensive review of its space business.

On Tuesday it said the charge for the space business was in fact 989 million.

"The half-year financial performance mainly reflects significant charges in our space business," Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury said in a statement, adding the issues were being treated.

In June Airbus also reduced its forecast for 2024 operating earnings to 5.5 billion euros, down from its previous guidance of between 6.5 and 7.0 billion euros, due to supply chain issues that are holding back increasing aircraft production.

"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," Faury added.

Airbus and its rival Boeing are paid when they deliver aircraft, thus the supply chain problems are holding back earnings as both firms have huge order books.

In June, Airbus said it intends to deliver around 770 commercial aircraft in 2024, down from the 800 it forecast at the beginning of the year.

While the 323 aircraft delivered in the first half of the year was an improvement over the same period last year, deliveries dropped during the second quarter due to supply chain problems.

A number of suppliers who downsized during the pandemic are having difficulty scaling production back up, limiting Airbus's ability to assemble more aircraft.

© 2024 AFP