AIR Airbus SE

   By Olivia Bugault 
 

Airbus SE (AIR.FR) said Wednesday that it is cutting its 2019 delivery target, and reported a better-than-expected profit for its third quarter.

The European plane maker said its closely watched adjusted earnings before interest and taxes rose by 2% to 1.60 billion euros ($1.78 billion) as lower aircraft deliveries were offset by the Airbus neo transition.

Net profit rose to EUR989 million from EUR957 million a year earlier, above analysts' expectations of EUR935 million, in part reflecting better financial result and lower tax rate.

Revenue was edged down 1% to EUR15.30 billion from EUR15.45 billion, it said.

Airbus cut its 2019 delivery target to roughly 860 aircraft from a previous forecast of 880 to 890 jets for the year, citing "underlying actions to secure a more efficient delivery flow in the next years." For the first nine months of 2019, Airbus delivered 571 aircraft and to achieve its updated guidance will have to ship almost 300 aircraft during the last three months of the year.

Airbus is well on track to outdo Boeing Co. (BA) in terms of deliveries as its U.S. rival still struggles with the world-wide grounding of the 737 MAX following two fatal crashes and the halt in the plane deliveries.

Airbus also cut its 2019 target for free cash flow before mergers and acquisitions and customer financing to EUR3 billion from a previous outlook of EUR4 billion after booking minus EUR5.13 billion in FCF for the first nine months of the year. The company typically generates most of its free cash flow during the last quarter as it recovers from delayed plane handovers.

"We are focused on the A320neo ramp-up and improving the industrial flow while managing the higher level of complexity on the A321 ACF in particular," Airbus's Chief Executive Guillaume Faury said.

Write to Olivia Bugault at olivia.bugault@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 30, 2019 02:26 ET (06:26 GMT)

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