Airbus Shares Rise on Upgraded Guidance, Strong 2Q
July 29 2021 - 4:20AM
Dow Jones News
By Olivia Bugault
Airbus SE shares rose in early trading on Thursday after the
European plane maker lifted its profitability, delivery and cash
flow guidance for the year after a strong second-quarter
performance. The company also announced it will launch a freighter
variant of its A350 jet.
At 0744 GMT, Airbus trades 3.3% higher at EUR119.12.
Though a guidance upgrade was expected by analysts, the market
is welcoming Airbus's new targets for the year that include the
delivery of about 600 commercial aircraft compared with a previous
target to at least match the 566 deliveries it achieved last year.
Airbus also said it now expects adjusted earnings before interest
and taxes in 2021 of about four billion euros ($4.74 billion),
twice as much as it was expecting before. The company raised its
2021 free cash flow before mergers, acquisitions and customer
financing view to EUR2 billion. This compares with a previous
target of at least break-even.
"Although a strong quarter was expected and guidance was also
expected to be raised, these results and guidance are well above
market expectations," Citi says. Airbus's new adjusted EBIT
guidance is EUR600 million above current consensus, the bank
says.
The company's upgraded guidance comes on the back of a strong
second quarter and first half. Net profit for the April-June period
came in at EUR1.87 billion compared with a net loss of EUR1.44
billion a year earlier. Revenue rose 70% to EUR14.18 billion.
Airbus's more closely watched adjusted EBIT also swung to a profit
of EUR2.01 billion. The rise in revenues and profit was mainly
driven by higher aircraft deliveries. In its first half, Airbus
shipped more than 297 planes, up from 196 during the same period a
year earlier.
Airbus said its board approved the launch of a freighter variant
of its A350 wide-body as the company has been "quite absent" from
this market segment which has been dominated by its U.S. rival
Boeing Co., Chief Executive Guillaume Faury said during a call with
journalists. Mr. Faury said the new freighter will enter into
service in 2025. At present, Airbus has no commercial transaction
to announce regarding its coming freighter, he said.
Write to Olivia Bugault at olivia.bugault@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 29, 2021 04:11 ET (08:11 GMT)
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