Airbus Group NV’s share price up, almost doubles first-quarter profit as A380 super-jumbo costs drop

The worlds second-biggest aircraft manufacturer – Airbus Group NV made an official statement, revealing that its profit for the first quarter of the current financial year increased by 93%, citing reduced costs related to its A380 super-jumbo.

Mr. Tom Enders, the Chief Executive Officer of Airbus Group NV, said in the statement, which was cited by Bloomberg: “We confirm our guidance, however there are still many challenges ahead for the rest of the year. A strong focus remains on program execution and the implementation of our various improvement and restructuring plans.”

According to the companys statement, the first-quarter net profit of Airbus Group NV was 439 million euros (604 million dollars) in comparison to the 227 million-euro net profit posted for the same period a year ago. The company, however, posted a decrease in its earnings over the first quarter. Airbus Groups earnings before interest, tax and one-time items declined by 34 million euros to 700 million euros (963 million dollars). The company confirmed its expectations of “moderate return on sales growth” for the current financial year.

Airbus also managed to get a 5.5% return on sales. The group sales of the company, which were generated by its three divisions increased by 5% and reached 12.6 billion euros in the first three months of the financial 2014.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, according to the statement posted today, Airbus continues to bet on its A350 test planes no matter that “the A350 XWB program remains challenging”. It also said to be “making progress” towards the goal of breaking even in the year to come.

Airbus Group NV added 4.75% to trade at 51.84 euros per share by 9:19 GMT, marking a one year change of +25.90%. According to the information published on CNN Money, the 25 analysts offering 12-month price targets for Airbus Group NV have a median target of 60.00, with a high estimate of 73.00 and a low estimate of 30.50. The median estimate represents a 21.24% increase from the last price of 49.49.