Airbus has reported a €1.36bn (£1.14bn) net loss for last year, down sharply from 2018’s €3bn profit, as the cost of settling corruption cases with UK, French and US authorities weighed on the planemaker’s balance sheet.
At the end of last month, Airbus paid €3.6bn, including €1bn to the UK’s Serious Fraud Office, following lengthy investigations into the aircraft maker’s use of middlemen to secure plane deals.
Aside from its legal difficulties, however, it notched up a “strong underlying financial performance driven mainly by our commercial aircraft deliveries”, according to chief executive Guillaume Faury.
Excluding the settlement and other one-off charges, full-year adjusted operating income was up 19% at nearly €7bn. Airbus pledged to increase operating profit in 2020 and deliver 880 commercial jets during this year.
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