AIR Airbus SE

By Olivia Bugault

--Airbus posted rising adjusted earnings and swung to a net profit in its first quarter

--The company confirmed its cautious guidance for the full year

--Airbus will continue to ramp up production despite warning of possible delays in order recovery

Airbus SE said Thursday that it swung to a net profit in its first quarter and confirmed its guidance for 2021 but warned that the market recovery will be slower in some regions.

"The path to recovery will not be linear," Airbus Chief Executive Officer Guillaume Faury said during a conference call. While some regions are showing encouraging signs of domestic air traffic recovery, others have maintained or even reinforced restrictions, Mr. Faury said, citing Europe as an example. India, where the number of Covid-19 cases have dramatically increased, is also another concern, he said.

The aerospace giant has confirmed its 2021 guidance --considered as cautious by many analysts-- including its target to at least match the 566 deliveries it achieved last year.

Mr. Faury also said during the call that the company will stick to its plan to increase its production rate from 40 A320 family jets per month to 43 in the third quarter and 45 in the last three months of 2021. Airbus will also increase the production of its A220 jets to five from four per month at the end of the first quarter.

"It's premature to consider we have a recovery in orders," Mr. Faury said during the call.

Net profit in the first quarter stood at 362 million euros ($438.9 million), compared with a net loss of EUR481 million a year earlier, it said. Airbus's more closely watched adjusted earnings before interest and taxes more than doubled during the first three months of the year to EUR694 million from EUR281 million, it said.

The increase in earnings was mainly due to cost and cash control as well as the 125 commercial planes delivered during the period and progress on its restructuring plan, it said.

Airbus also generated strong free cash flow before merger and acquisitions and customer financing at EUR1.2 billion which compares to an outflow of EUR8.03 billion during the same period last year, it said. Revenue fell 2% at EUR10.46 billion.

"The first quarter shows that the crisis is not yet over for our industry, and that the market remains uncertain," Mr. Faury said in a statement.

Airbus shares were up 2.3% at EUR101.58 at 0817 GMT.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 29, 2021 04:43 ET (08:43 GMT)

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