FEW CLUES HAVE emerged as to the state of Dassault Aviation's enforced merger talks with Aerospatiale from chairman Serge Dassault's unveiling of an increasingly healthy financial results for 1995 .
Dassault refers only briefly to the negotiations with Aerospatiale, which have been more or less forced on his company by the French Government. "Discussions are under way with a view to a partnership," he says.
It is understood that the talks are not yet taking place at chairman level, but being led by Dassault Aviation vice-president for finance Charles Edelstenne and Aerospatiale vice-president Yves Michot.
Dassault, who is bitterly opposed to the prospect of a merger, goes on to stress the importance of other links - with British Aerospace on new European combat-aircraft technologies and with Boeing on the Joint Advanced Strike Technology programme.
The company's results further fuel Dassault's claims that it is outperforming its state-owned counterparts, showing a 22% rise in net profits, to Fr401 million ($80 million), on revenues of Fr11.5 billion.
Orders reached Fr14.2 billion, of which nearly half came from civil markets. Orders for the Falcon business-jet range held steady, despite the decline of the French franc against the US dollar.
Messier-Bugatti, the Snecma brakes and hydraulics business headed for acquisition by BFGoodrich, ended its run of losses with a modest pre-tax profit of nearly Fr20 million ($4 million) for 1995. Sales were up marginally at close to Fr1.5 billion, while the order intake slipped to Fr1.3 billion, although Messier-Bugatti says that this is because of shorter lead times. At year-end, the order backlog stood at Fr748 million. The company says that BFGoodrich has revised its acquisition proposals.
Source: Flight International
