The British Have Had Enough: BAE Dumps Airbus Stake

[onedomino]

BAE has decided to dump EDAS, the socialist parent of Airbus. The A380 is suffering from massive delays and the A350 (intended to compete with the Boeing 787) is a technological failure with no significant business from commercial airlines. Companies that do not have to compete to survive and depend on infusions of taxpayer cash, like Airbus, are extremely poor risks in the equity market. The British have had enough.

BAE Systems Shareholders Overwhelmingly Approve Airbus Stake Sale

http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/afx/2006/10/04/afx3065299.html

LONDON (AFX) - Defence group BAE Systems PLC today said shareholders have overwhelmingly approved its proposed sale of its 20 pct stake in trouble European aircraft maker Airbus.

BAE said shareholders had cast more than 99.85 pct of votes in favour of the sale, with only 0.15 pct against. Fairly conclusive.

The company said that equated to 2,310,714,988 votes in favour, compared with 3,388,514 votes against the proposal.

BAE chairman Dick Olver told an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders, held to vote on the proposal, that the company had decided the stake was not core to its strategy. Olver also said BAE believed Airbus was facing a challenging short and medium-term outlook, particularly with regard to some of its main civil aircraft programmes.

He said the board had been concerned about the potential cash requirements of the Airbus business in the medium term.

However, some shareholders at the meeting expressed concern about the timing of the sale, saying it should have been done earlier. One shareholder said: 'If you had gone ahead much quicker with this sale, we would have probably got a lot more money.'

Olver said EADS had proceeded with sale of the stake as early as possible after deciding it was in the company's interests. 'The execution of this has been done incredibly fast,' he said.

 

[glockmail]

New Airbus delay could be Boeing boon
Only one A380 now set for '07; customers hint at reconsidering orders

By JAMES WALLACE
P-I AEROSPACE REPORTER

Airbus, its reputation already battered by two previous delays in its A380 program, announced Tuesday that its production problems are far from over and the double-decker, 555-passenger jet will be delayed another year.

It will now be next October before Singapore Airlines receives the first A380 -- the only one to be delivered next year. It was supposed to have had several planes in service by now.

Some A380 customers, most notably Emirates, which has more A380s on order than any other airline, hinted they might reconsider their orders. That could mean opportunities for The Boeing Co. And Boeing could benefit even if there are no defections from the troubled Airbus camp.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/287445_airbusdelay04.html?source=mypi

Score another one for the capitalists!

 

[musicman]

For a brief, depressing moment, I feared the article was descending into head-up-the-ass pseudo-moralism:

From the article: However, some shareholders at the meeting expressed concern...

"Oh, no", I thought, "here it comes".Then I read...

...about the timing of the sale, saying it should have been done earlier.

...and began to hold out a sliver of hope. But, when I saw...

One shareholder said: 'If you had gone ahead much quicker with this sale, we would have probably got a lot more money.'

...I laughed aloud with relief. I find it oddly reassuring when people operate in the real world!