The embattled French co-CEO of Airbus parent EADS on Friday defended his sale of shares in the company before delays in the superjumbo A380 sent the stock tumbling, calling it an "unfortunate coincidence."
Noel Forgeard also sought to play down the importance of a costly production backlog affecting the world's largest passenger plane. He said none of the 16 airlines that have placed orders for a total of 159 A380 planes have canceled their plans.
"It's a glitch," Forgeard said on Europe-1 radio. "All aircraft programs have suffered delays."
Wiring problems with the much-touted double-decker A380 announced this week incensed airlines worldwide and ballooned into a debacle prompting questions about the leadership of European Aeronautics and Defence Space Co., a European showcase project jointly run by French-German management.
One key question surrounds large stock sales by Forgeard, three of his children and other top of managers in mid-March - three months before the A380 delays were announced this week.
The French market regulator AMF may launch a probe into the stock sales, Le Figaro newspaper reported Friday, without citing sources. AMF officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
"We were not aware, not the shareholders, not the directors" of the A380's problems in March, Forgeard said. He said the troubles with the A380 surfaced in April, and that in late May they still seemed surmountable.
Then this Tuesday came the announcement of the delays. EADS stock plummeted by 26 percent Wednesday after the news and a subsequent profit warning. The stock price rallied slightly Thursday but was down again Friday, falling 1.9 percent to 19.61 euros ($24.72).
They remained well below prices in March, when Forgeard exercised 2.5 million euros ($3.1 million) worth of options at 32.01 euros ($40.21) per share, and three of his children each sold 1.4 million euros ($1.75 million) worth of shares at the time at 32.82 euros ($41.23), according to EADS public filings. Board members Francois Auque and Jean-Paul Gut also sold shares.
The stock sale was "an unfortunate coincidence," Forgeard said on Europe-1. "I have nothing to hide."
He noted that he exercised only half his stock options in the deal, and that it was announced publicly at the time.
"If I had had the slightest privileged information, I would not have sold the shares," he said.
Labor leaders expressed alarm at the sales.
"We are extremely shocked by what is happening at EADS. We are reaching the limit of the grave illness of financial capitalism in Europe and the world," Francois Chereque, head of the CFDT union, said on LCI television Friday.
Labor unions have been protesting EADS plans to close a factory of Sogerma in Bordeaux.
"How should the workers at Sogerma, who were told that we're cutting 1,000 jobs, understand the fact that their boss resold his stock options for an enormous personal profit when he knew that his company was in a difficult situation," Chereque asked.
EADS said Thursday it would conduct an internal probe to find out who was responsible for the aircraft delays.
Forgeard said Friday that the head of the A380 production was not to blame, but suggested plant managers may be responsible.
The production problems raised questions about the A380's future, as rival Boeing Co. is staking its bets on a smaller, more fuel-efficient jet.
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