Arianespace confirms that 2011 was just profitable but has expectations of improvement

At Arianespace’s annual shareholder meeting, the European launch provider revealed that its net profit for 2011 of €1.6 million in 2011. This small profit on revenues of €1,012 million was set against the backdrop of cash bailouts by the European Space Agency during the year and a relatively low flight rate.

Nevertheless, Arianespace has a strong order book at 4.7 billion euros ($6.16 billion) made on the back of its reputation for good recent reliability. Arianespace has had 47 successful Ariane 5 launches in a row over nine years as well as logging a successful launches of a Soyuz from the Guiana Space Center (CSG) and the successful maiden launch of the Vega small launch vehicle last year. With these three launch vehicles now flying, Arianespace is confident that revenues and profitability will improve along with its flight rate. The shareholders at the meeting also renewed the appointment of Jean-Yves Le Gall as Chairman and CEO of Arianespace.

Source: FlightGlobal.com