Airbus 2015 Annual Report Download - page 16

INTERVIEW WITH TOM ENDERS, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Tom Enders
Chief Executive Officer
Improving Competitiveness
We want our
shareholders
to benefit from
this positive
development
AIRBUS GROUP ANNUAL REPORT 2015 l 14 l
ow would you sum up Airbus
Group’s 2015?
Difficult to sum up a full business year in a few sentences
but I’ll give it a shot. We have described the past year as
one of solid performance. It means nothing less than: 2015
was a successful year! This becomes most apparent in our
Commercial Aircraft business: we turned out more aircraft than
ever before and again scored over 1,000 new orders. Our order
book exceeded 6,800 aircraft at the end of the year and this
record backlog certainly supports our decision to raise the
single-aisle production rate to 60 jets a month in mid-2019.
In 2015, we also progressed in our other businesses.
AtHelicopters, we successfully defended our leading position
despite very tough market conditions. We have been resilient
because we acted quickly in the face of a slowdown in
the commercial helicopter market and launched a rigorous
transformation plan three years ago. This is paying off now.
Atthe same time, we’ve invested into the future with various
new and revamped products as well as new international
sites and partnerships.
At Defence and Space, we achieved our order bookings
thanks to good demand for satellites, A330 MRTT aircraft
and the important Ariane 6 development contract. In fact, the
book-to-bill ratio was above one within this Division which
is a healthy sign. And we shouldn’t forget the landmark
agreement we signed with OneWeb to design and build
900 small telecommunications satellites, to provide internet
access all around the globe.
I would also like to say that I am very proud of the tireless
efforts of our employees. It is largely thanks to their hard work
that we were able to record a 15 percent rise in earnings per
share and deliver our 2015 financial guidance. And, obviously,
we want our shareholders to benefit from this positive
development as well: our proposed dividend of €1.30 a share
and the share buyback of €1 billion approved during the year
show our strong commitment to increase shareholder returns.
What were your operational highlights?
For our commercial aircraft business, in a nutshell,
first deliveries of our new A350 to airline customers, the
certification of the A320neo, the break-even of the A380
programme, after 15 years of heavy investments and losses,
and the opening of our new Final Assembly Line in Mobile,
Alabama.
In helicopters, our highlights were the first flight of the brand-
new H160, as well as the good market reception of the H175
and H145.
In defence, the improvement of the industrial and quality situation
of the A400M is certainly worth mentioning and in space, Ariane
5 once again scored an impeccable launch record.
What progress did you make in reshaping
the Group to face its upcoming challenges?
We continued implementing our strategy to focus on core
businesses. We sold off another large portion of our holding
in Dassault Aviation and signed an initial agreement for the
sale of our commercial satellite communication business.
Weexpect to make further progress during 2016 with the
other divestments within Defence and Space, most notably
the electronics business.
And I hope that, despite delays, we can soon conclude
our new launcher JV with Safran, in order to improve our
competitiveness in this important industry sector. However, as
necessary as consolidation of Defence and Space is, the new
division head, Dirk Hoke, has the task to capture and develop
new growth opportunities in military aircraft and space.
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