|
EADS CEO wants to take over US companies to reduce dollar dependency
(Associated Press WorldStream Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) DONAUWOERTH, Germany_European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. NV Chief Executive Louis Gallois said the parent company of planemaker Airbus is planning a spending spree in the United States to take advantage of the dollar weakness and reduce its exposure.
"Now is the right time to strike in the U.S. because the dollar is very low," Gallois said.
EADS is aiming at "medium-sized companies" in the U.S., he said, without naming any potential target.
Gallois has been one of the loudest complainers about the dollar's fall, saying that for every 10 cent rise in the euro, Airbus loses 1 billion (US$1.5 billion). The European planemaker sells its jets in dollars, while many of its costs are in euros.
By 2020, 20 percent of EADS employees should be working outside of Europe and 40 percent of its supplies should come from non-European countries, he said.
"We won't move plants from Europe to the U.S., but some of plants in Europe could shift their additional work," Gallois said.
Gallois said he wanted to reduce EADS' dependence on Airbus, saying "it is a risk for the company" that two-thirds of EADS' sales are dependent on the planemaker.
Besides Airbus, EADS has four other divisions: military transport, defense and security, Eurocopter _ which makes helicopters _ and EADS Astrium, its space industry unit.
Gallois announced "real serious measures" to expand the company's percentage of weapons production to 50 percent.
Airbus has received record new orders in 2007, he said before the Jan. 16 announcement of final results.
He declined to comment on whether Airbus beat Boeing _ as analysts expect _ saying: "customers see Airbus and Boeing as equals, and that's the only thing that matters."
Last week, Boeing Co. said it sold 1,413 commercial jets in 2007 while delivering 441 planes, its best showing in six years. Airbus had delivered 410 planes and logged 1,204 orders as of the end of November, the latest update available.
___
On the Net:
http://www.eads.net
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
|
Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO West, September 16-18, 2008. Los Angeles, California.
