Toulouse (dpa) - European aerospace and defence giant Airbus on Thursday recorded a 1.36-billion-euro (1.49-billion-dollar) loss for 2019 after paying billions in fines over corruption allegations.
It was the first time the European aircraft manufacturer lost money since 2009, after a profit of 3.05 billion euros in 2018.
Airbus recently agreed to pay 3.6 billion euros to France, Britain and the United States to settle corruption allegations relating to its sales in various countries between 2004 and 2016.
According to US authorities, the company had set up a scheme to bribe foreign officials in order to obtain aircraft sales and other business.
Airbus said underlying earnings, before interest, tax, the settlement and other one-offs, were strong, up 19 per cent at 6.9 billion euros, and it intended to pay a 1.80-euro dividend reflecting that.
"In 2019 we've put a lot behind us," chief executive Guillaume Faury, who took over last year from Tom Enders, said on an earnings call to investors.
The company has gradually replaced its entire top management team since the corruption allegations came to light in 2016.
Before his departure, at last year's financial results announcement, Enders also announced an end to production of the A380 superjumbo, a flagship project that had struggled to find customers and make money.
"We laid out the next chapter of our transition for a stronger and more sustainable Airbus and we will continue to build on it," Faury argued.
Issues that would still need work in 2020 included restructuring the company's defence and space sectors, ramping down production of the A380 which is due to end next year, and the consequences of the compliance settlement.
Airbus said it planned to deliver 880 commercial aircraft in 2020, up from 863 last year.
It is expecting earnings before interest, tax and one-offs to rise to 7.5 billion euros next year, assuming continued growth in the world economy and air traffic and no change in existing tariff regimes.
The manufacturer said its revenues in 2019 were at 70.5 billion euros, up from 63.7 billion euros in 2018.
In addition to the graft settlement, the company took a 1.2-billion-euro charge on its bottom line due to a downward revision on its export outlook for its A400m military transport aircraft.
The company also registered big charges on that long-troubled programme in 2016 and in 2009, when it was responsible for its last annual loss.
Airbus said it had completed its process of "rebaselining" the A400m and had made significant progress on its technical capacities.
But, it said, "the outlook is increasingly challenging on exports during the launch contract phase, also in light of the repeatedly extended German export ban to Saudi Arabia."
Airbus also announced that along with the government of Quebec it had bought out Canadian firm Bombardier's remaining share in the A220 smaller single-aisle jet programme - formerly known as the Bombardier C-series - for 591 million dollars.
Airbus had delivered 48 A220s in 2019 and hopes to deliver 55 this year, with the programme due to reach profitability by the mid-2020s, Faury said.
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