Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa) stayed in the red during 1996, ending the year with an operating loss of DM196 million ($114 million) after a poor performance from the military-aircraft and missiles businesses.
The result continues the improvement made after 1995, when charges from the withdrawal from the Fokker regional aircraft operation and restructuring in the midst of heavy dollar-exchange losses pushed the group to a massive DM7 billion loss.
As revealed earlier in the year, group sales rose by 13%, to DM13 billion, helped particularly by growing civil aircraft production rates at Airbus Industrie (Flight International, 19-25 February).
Airbus and Eurocopter - both joint ventures in which Dasa is a partner - also led a "strong growth" in new orders over the year, rising by 56% to DM17.1 billion. The growth in sales has continued in to the first quarter of 1997, with Dasa showing a 23%increase.
Source: Flight International
