The European aerospace and defence group EADS said on December 08 it expected a "significant improvement" in operating profit from 2012 on but that next year would be as tough as 2010. "We expect significant improvements for 2012 and the following years at the operating profit level," finance director Hans Peter Ring told the financial daily Boersen-Zeitung.
Until then however, "programmes such as the A350 and A400M will have to be financed," which meant 2011 will be "as difficult as 2010 at the operating level," he warned.
The A350 wide-body airliner and the A400M military transport plane are two aircraft on which EADS is betting for future earnings, but their development has posed problems for the European plane maker Airbus, which is owned by EADS.
The parent group is also hoping for a favourable trend in foreign exchange rates, which should help it compete with US arch rival Boeing since both bill customers in dollars.
"Negative exchange rate effects have hurt us in recent years, and are one reason why we expect a difficult year in 2011," Ring said.