Airbus 2015 Annual Report Download - page 20

Delivering on Commitments
Asia-Pacific
Europe
North America
Middle East
Africa / Central and
South America and Others
CONSISTENT GROWTH
IN ORDER BOOK
Order Book by Region
INTERVIEW WITH HARALD WILHELM, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
ow would you summarise
the 2015 results?
2015 was a year of solid financial and operational
performance. We delivered on our commitments
and achieved the guidance for all KPIs, while
maintaining our outlook for 2016 and beyond.
Going through the numbers, revenues were up 6 percent
to € 64.5billion, mainly driven by Commercial Aircraft, with
deliveries up again to a record level of 635 aircraft, including
14A350 XWBs. Helicopter revenues were up 4 percent,
mainly thanks to higher services activities. That is a great
performance when you consider the soft overall helicopter
market. And at Defence and Space, revenues were broadly
stable, despite the deconsolidation of some of the launcher
business. On a comparable basis revenues increased by
4percent. Looking now at our underlying performance, the
EBIT* before one-off, we achieved slight progress over 2014,
driven by performance improvements in all Divisions, and in
particular the A380, which is now at break-even.
At Helicopters, lower delivery volumes were compensated by
our services business and progress on the transformation
plan. The improvement at Defence and Space reflects
strong programme execution across all business lines and
transformation efforts.
Bottom line impact, ie net income and EPS, grew by
15 percent. Notwithstanding the heavy investment phase
in our programmes, our free cash flow also improved to
€ 1.2billion before M&A.
Including the proceeds from divestments, chiefly a portion
of our Dassault Aviation participation, our free cash flow
reached € 2.8billion, leading to a net cash position by the
end of 2015 of € 10 billion. So all in all, we’re on track. We’re
laying the groundwork now for our production ramp-ups.
And we’re doing that in a disciplined way.
What’s driving the free cash flow improvement?
The improvement is driven by a strong performance in
deliveries, a very healthy inflow of advances on the commercial
side, and our focus and control on the working capital.
We are ramping up the A350 and A400M and preparing first
for rate 50, then for rate 60 on the single aisle as well as the
transition to the NEO. But at the same time, we’re making
progress in inventory management, improving inventory turns
on programmes and reducing the number of days in which
we have highest value items in the Final Assembly Line. We
also have a rigorous approach to PDP collection.
What about the commercial environment:
any signs of a slowdown?
The market environment for commercial aircraft was again
good in 2015. We won more than 1,000 net orders. Wehave
a record backlog of 6,800 aircraft, which supports our
We have a clear
commitment to
improving
shareholder
returns
23%
18%
12%
16%
31%
H
Harald Wilhelm
Chief Financial Officer
AIRBUS GROUP ANNUAL REPORT 2015 l 18 l