NEUILLY-SUR-SEINE (dpa-AFX) - Thales SA (THLEF.PK) Tuesday reported a one percent drop in 2011 revenues as Defense & Security declined, somewhat offset by Aerospace & Transport revenue growth. Thales expects to achieve EBIT margin of 5 percent for 2011 and 6 percent in 2012.
Revenues for 2011 dropped 1 percent to 13.214 billion euros from 13.125 billion euros last year. About 52 million of the drop came from foreign exchange fluctuations.
Defense & Security revenues dropped 3 percent for the year. Defense Mission Systems were weak while Land Defense and Air Operations posted stable revenues. Thales believes its Defense & Security segment resilient in the environment of budget pressures in Europe and North America.
Aerospace & Transport revenues grew 3 percent for the year driven by Airbus and Space observation, and ramp-up of iridium NEXT.
Order intake for 2011 grew 1 percent to 13.214 billion euros from 13.081 billion euros in 2010.
The company attributed the growth to the civil aeronautics business, which had offset budget pressures in Europe. The Mirage 2000 upgrade contract in India, worth more than 1 billion euros, balanced the exceptional level in 2010, with the booking of 81 satellites for the Iridium NEXT constellation in the amount of 1.1 billion for Thales' share.
Aerospace & Transport order intake dropped 13 percent from last year when the order for the Iridium NEXT satellite constellation boosted books. Defense & Security order intake increased 17 percent on the Mirage booking.
By region, North America bookings dropped 46 percent, Europe dropped 2 percent. Asia-Pacific grew 92 percent and Middle East grew 1 percent.
THLEF.PK last traded at $33.00, traded in a range of $28.18 - $44.89 over the past year.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
