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Airbus A350 taking off at Munich Airport
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Christof Stache/AFP
The world's largest aircraft manufacturer Airbus wants to further increase production in 2024. A total of around 800 commercial vehicles will find their way to customers, around 65 more than in the previous year, the German-French DAX group announced when presenting its annual balance sheet in Toulouse. The operating profit adjusted for special items (adjusted EBIT) is expected to increase to 6.5 to 7 billion euros.
Last year, Airbus achieved an adjusted operating profit of 5.8 billion euros - four percent more than the year before, but slightly less than the board had targeted. However, the surplus fell by eleven percent to 3.8 billion euros due to high special charges in the defense and space sectors.
Given that the coffers are full, Airbus still wants to pay out significantly more money to its shareholders: In addition to a stable regular dividend of 1.80 euros, there will be a special dividend of 1 euro per share.
Stock market traders expected more
Despite this news, the price of Airbus shares fell slightly in premarket trading. The aircraft manufacturer's shares were quoted on the Tradegate platform 0.8 percent below the Xetra closing on Wednesday.
The operating result fell short of market expectations, wrote expert Chloe Lemarie from the analysis company Jefferies. However, this and the rather weaker outlook for 2024 would be compensated for, among other things, by the planned special dividend.
mamk/dpa