Chris Jasper/HAMBURG
Manufacturing giant EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space) will target synergies of €500 million ($450 million) per year by 2004 after its imminent creation out of DaimlerChrysler Aerospace, Aerospatiale Matra and CASA.
EADS chief executive designate, Rainer Hertrich, says the gain will be secured through efficiency programmes, the ongoing Aerospatiale Matra integration plan, and the creation of EADS itself, with associated synergies. He characterises the €500 million annual benefit as "value creation" rather than cost savings.
Speaking at Dasa's Airbus plant in Hamburg, Hertrich and co-chief executive Philippe Camus said EADS would be just as "mobile" as European rival BAE Systems and would explore US links with companies including Lockeed Martin and Raytheon after a recent deal with Northrop Grumman. A major transatlantic merger, however, "could take 10 years", says Hertrich, due to political obstacles.
He says the new company will float in mid-July, listing on the Paris, Frankfurt and Madrid bourses. A pathfinder prospectus for the offering reveals, however, that only 27.35% of shares will be floated, rather than 35% as once suggested. Part of the balance is being held by the Lagardère group and Dasa for disposal later, with the rest already floated in France as a result of the Aerospatiale merger.
The document also shows EADS took a €1.08 billion loss last year, pro forma, after applying international accounting standards ahead of its creation. That meant currency hedging instruments held by Aerospatiale and Dasa were revalued at market prices, producing a loss EADS chief financial officer Axel Arendt says "is really paper accounting". He says EADS' earnings before interest and taxes of €1.445 billion, representing 6.4% of sales, give a clearer picture.
Source: Flight International
