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DASA ENTERS EADS WITH STRONG RESULTS

The last economic year of DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (Dasa, Munich) was also the company's most successful one. Before the company merges with Aerospatiale Matra and Casa to form the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), Dasa-Boss Dr. Manfred Bischoff presented record results for 1999. As to turnover and operating profit, top results of the previous year were surpassed. The operating profit rose more than the turnover.

"We continued to grow profitably and are as far as profitability is concerned one of the top companies in our branch of industry", said Bischoff, at the balance press conference at the beginning of March in Munich.

In 1999 turnover of the Dasa grew by five per cent to EUR9.2bn compared with EUR8.8bn in the previous year. The operating profit increased by 17 per cent to the new record value of EUR730m compared with EUR623m in '98.

According to Bischoff, Dasa has managed to expand the amount of orders. It increased by nine per cent to EUR23.9bn (in 1998 EUR21.9bn). Compared with turnover proceeds of the previous year the purely mathematical range of orders covers over two years. This means that Dasa has a great buffer, which will enable the company to master the cycles, which are so typical in the aerospace industry.

With EUR9.9bn the actual orders were lower than in the previous year (EUR13.9bn). This did not come unexpectedly. The reason for this was that in 1998 Dasa was able to land/acquire several special big contracts for Airbus. The company also hit the jackpot with the Eurofighter order. A reduction in orders in the defence area and civilian systems is caused by constant cuts in the defence budget.

Toward the end of 1999 the number of employees increased to 46,107 (1998: 45,858). Over 1,200 new employees were taken on especially in the commercial aircraft area, engines for aviation and military aircraft construction. It was claimed that these new staff had more than compensated for the sale of the Elekluft.

The departing Dasa boss explained that the company had operated profitably in the market. Every second helicopter, which was registered in the USA in 1999, had been a product of the German-French joint venture Eurocopter. This meant that the company was also market leader in the United States. The Eurofighter had been chosen by the Greek Government and is short-listed in Norway. Airbus is said to have had a market share of 55 per cent with 476 sold aircraft in 1999. This means that this company took the first place as far as orders are concerned.

In Hamburg the 1000th Airbus of the A320 family and in Toulouse the 2000th Airbus in all was handed over. In December 1999 the first commercial start of Ariane 5 supported the market lead of the European Ariane Consortium in the carrier rocket sector.

In the technology area Dasa was also successful in expanding its excellent position. A twin jet aircraft, type VFW614, which had been equipped with the latest electronic control system, performed its first flight as technology demonstrator for the new generation EFCS (Electronic Flight Control System) successfully. Dasa's technological performance with regards to flight control in the military area has made it possible to take up the Vector-Program with its partner Boeing. The aim of this program is the perfecting of the thrust vector steering, which has mainly been developed by Dasa and is based on the experimental aircraft, the X-31. (With this technology an aircraft can only be steered with the thrust put out by emissions).

"Dasa has built the x-ray telescope XMM, which has been in space since December 1999. The X-SAR radar used for three dimensional mapping of the earth was handed over in 1999 and was used successfully during the shuttle flight in February by the German astronaut Gerhard Thiele. Dasa has secured its future on the carrier market with ongoing research into re-usable space transport aircraft", is how Bischoff promoted his company.

In 1999 investments into research and developments amounted to EUR2.0bn or 22 per cent of the turnover and thus ranged at the high level of the previous year.

"Our company is making an outstanding contribution to ensure Germany's competitiveness in a high tech global economy", explains Bischoff. "We are part of the future for our country and for Europe".

BUSINESS AREAS IN NUMBERS

Commercial Aircraft
Dasa's portfolio commercial aircraft achieved a turnover of EUR3.34bn (EUR2.96bn in 1998). During the previous year 121 A319 and A321 left the final assembly plant in Hamburg. From 2001 there will be a production capacity for 15 jets in the final assembly hall. The program start of the smallest Airbus A318 with 107 seats will strengthen the market position of Airbus Industry as well as the position of Hamburg as final assembly centre in Germany. 120 orders have already been placed for the A318 and not a lot of effort has been put into the marketing yet.

Eurocopter
For the fourth consecutive year Eurocopter, the German-French joint venture, was able to expand its position as the world's biggest helicopter manufacturer and has now a market share of 45 per cent. Eurocopter was able to hand over 241 helicopters in 1999.New orders were placed for 382 helicopters. In 1999 the most important order was for 160 Tiger fighter helicopters for the German and French Army. This order was worth EUR1.5bn. The turnover share of Eurocopter, which was consolidated with Dasa, amounted to EUR705m (as opposed to EUR680m in 1998).

Military Aircraft
The business area military aircraft had cranked up mass production of the Eurofighter and was able to keep all the designated deadlines. Final assembly of the 180 German aircraft will commence in December 2000 in Manching. Dasa has found a possible interested party in the United Arabian Emirates to co-operate on the Mako, the trainer and light fighter. Turnover rose by 13 per cent to EUR1.1bn (1998 Eur957m).

Spaceflight
The business area space flight infrastructure increased its turnover by 2 per cent to EUR592m (1998 EUR582m). The space lab Columbus is mainly responsible for the turnover as well as the carrier rocket Ariane. Dasa is now the biggest shareowner in the American space flight company Spacehab Inc., which specialises in running and use. In this way the commercialisation strategy in space flight is being continued. It was put to the European space agency ESA to run and use the European part of the space station industrially from 2003.

Satellites
In the business area satellites turnover was EUR458m below turnover of the previous year (EUR645m). Investments in satellites have been slow due to global market developments. There have been delays because of new constellation programs of telecommunications. Contracts expected for 2000 for this area and political decisions for satellite navigation, ensure that the commercial turnover share continues to grow in the new financial year. The contract for the civilian earth surveillance satellite ROCSAT 2 for Taiwan, which the company was given after fierce competition, could not be fulfilled, because the German Government did not give an export permission. In the meanwhile this contract has been awarded to Matra Marconi Space, a Dasa partner in the planned space flight company Astrium. As experience from Kosovo has shown, a national surveillance satellite is more than necessary. Dasa presented concept suggestions in a study, which should lead to an order in the course of this year.

Defence and civilian systems
Cuts in the German defence budget force the business area defence and civilian systems to lose 850 jobs. The distance flying object MAW Taurus KEPD 350 has already proved its superiority over systems belonging to the competition. And all this after a remarkably short development time of only 16 months. This business area was able to report successes when it supplied the mobile field hospital Transhospital to the Unite Arabian Emirates and a folding bridge to Austria. Turnover of this business area remained stable with EUR1.7m. The company sold the daughter -company Elekluft in 1999 in order to concentrate on the core business.

MTU
The MTU Munich was able to increase its turnover by five per cent to EUR1.74m (1998: EUR1.66m). By co-operating with Northern America and Asia the company was successful in expanding its position to be the biggest maintenance-company for engines, which does not depend on manufactures. The low-pressure turbine module, for the RW6000 engine designed for the Airbus A318, amongst other aircraft, was developed in record time. MTU as German systems leader together with its European partners was given the go-ahead for mass production for the EJ200, the engine for the Eurofighter. Developments for the MTR390 engine for the fighter helicopter Tiger were also completed successfully. The contract to mass-produce this engine has now been signed.

From page 34 of FLUG REVUE 5/2000