(News Bulletin 247) – The former EADS exceeded expectations in terms of cash generation in the fourth quarter. The European group also announced an exceptional dividend for 2023.

Airbus accelerated the pace last year. The aeronautical group published its annual and fourth quarter 2023 results this Thursday, which show an increase in its activity.

Over the last three months of last year, the revenues of the former EADS reached 22.86 billion euros, up 11% year-on-year.

The manufacturer benefited from higher aircraft deliveries, with a total of 247 units in the fourth quarter compared to 224 over the same period of 2023. This allowed its civil aeronautics division to record growth of 10 %.

A key measure of the company’s profitability, adjusted operating profit stood at 2.207 billion euros, up 3% year-on-year. Net profit fell by 13% to 1.46 billion euros.

Data closely followed by analysts, cash generation

reached 3.35 billion euros over the quarter.

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An exceptional dividend

According to a consensus posted online by the company, analysts on average expected revenues of 22.466 billion euros, adjusted operating income of 2.27 billion euros and cash flow of 2.84 billion euros. .

Over the whole year, Airbus generated revenues of 65.45 billion euros, up 11% year-on-year, and net profit of 3.78 billion euros, down 11%. over a year. Adjusted operating profit increased by 4% to 5.84 billion euros.

Cash flow stood at 4.5 billion euros, well above the 3.9 billion euros expected by analysts, notes Jefferies, which appreciates “robust” cash generation.

For the 2024 financial year, the aeronautical group announced that it expected around 800 aircraft deliveries, while the consensus expected an average of 813 units, according to Jefferies. Airbus also expects to generate adjusted operating profit of between 6.5 billion and 7.5 billion euros and free cash flow excluding mergers and acquisitions of around 4 billion euros.

Concerning the return to the shareholder, Airbus has decided to propose a dividend of 1.80 euros per share for 2023, i.e. the same amount as for the previous financial year. The aircraft manufacturer also intends to distribute an exceptional dividend of 1 euro per share.

The group had warned that it would consider additional shareholder return measures as soon as it crossed 10 billion euros in net cash. This was the case at the end of last year, with the group’s net cash position standing at €10.7 billion at the end of December. But the market was instead expecting share buybacks.

“The total dividend would therefore amount to 2.2 billion euros, a little less than the cash that we expected the group to return to shareholders in 2024, namely 2.5 billion euros, including 1 billion “euros of share buyback and 1.5 billion euros of ordinary dividend”, underlines Jefferies.

“Our dividend proposal reflects the good financial results for 2023, our growth prospects for 2024 and the strength of our balance sheet,” said Guillaume Faury, Executive Chairman of Airbus quoted in a press release.