THOMSON-CSF swung back into the black for the first half of the year, setting up the defence-electronics group for its pending privatisation, which could now take place in the first quarter of 1996.
The group has sustained two years of heavy losses, largely because of the crisis at Credit Lyonnais, the French state-owned bank in which Thomson holds a 19% stake. With the bank's rescue now in hand and Thomson's liabilities capped, the group was able to show a half-year profit of Fr364 million ($73 million). That turns around a 1994 loss of Fr170 million.
Thomson's sales and operating margins remain under pressure, however, as it struggles with tighter defence budgets. For the half year margins dipped to little over 5% on sales, which edged down to Fr15.5 billion. The full-year results are expected to be similar.
Privatisation of the group is still in prospect, with the French Government proposing in its latest defence budget that a sale could take place early in 1996. It is still unclear whether the Thomson-CSF defence group will be sold as a package together with its sister consumer-electronics business Thomson Multimedia.
Elsewhere, within the French defence industry, the Dassault Aviation group, kept profits relatively steady at Fr277 million, despite the fact that sales edged down again to below Fr5.2 billion.
Almost half of the sales are now from civil markets as a result of growth from the Falcon business jet. Civil aviation also accounted for 57% of orders, as military markets remained weak.
The group admits that full-year sales are likely to continue to slide, falling to around Fr11.7 billion, from Fr12.4 billion in 1994.
Source: Flight International