airbus Group Se

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Photo: Eurosatory 2014, Airbus military helicopter
© Facing Finance
Airbus
Group SE
A
irbus Group (known as EADS until 2014),
headquartered in the Netherlands, is one
of the largest aerospace corporations in
Europe. Airbus has significant operations in the
defence sector.1 According to SIPRI 2014, Airbus
Group ranked 7th largest in the world by arms
sales, although this only made up 18% of their
total sales.2
Airbus produces the multipurpose combat
plane, Eurofighter Typhoon 3, which has been
bought by Saudi Arabia and used in military
campaigns in Yemen.4 These campaigns have
been widely criticised for resulting in significant
civilian casualties. 5 Eurofighters have also
recently been bought by Kuwait.6 Airbus claims to
“play a leading role in the markets for future
unmanned aerial systems”.7 Together with
Dassault and Alenia Aermacchi, Airbus has been
contracted to begin development of a European
Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) drone
that will be used for reconnaissance purposes and
can also be armed. 8
In response to restrictive export laws in Germany,
with Germany preventing the export of helicopter
components where they will be used in countries
such as Uzbekistan, Airbus noted it is currently
considering relocating their helicopter programs
to France rather than staying in Germany.9 Airbus
has previously criticised the German Government’s
restrictive arms export policy.10
Additionally Airbus holds 37,5% of shares of
the joint venture MBDA, together with BAE
Systems (UK) and Finmeccanica (Italy).11 MBDA
produce the ASMPA air launched nuclear missile
the M51 and M45 nuclear ballistic missiles for the
French nuclear deterrent force.12 13 The anti-tank
missile Milan is also produced by MBDA in France
and under licence in other countries such as
India.14 Based on their evident involvement in the
production of nuclear weapons, the Norwegian
Government Pension Fund excluded Airbus Group
SE from their investments.15
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9
Estimated value of underwritten shares and bonds: Crédit Agricole 822.50
HSBC 225.00
BNP Paribas 225.00
Commerzbank 187.50
Deutsche Bank 125.00
Estimated value of managed shares and bonds: KfW
5,439.69
BlackRock 1,244.01
Vanguard 804.78
Crédit Agricole 476.82
Deutsche Bank 405.26
Revenues: Profit after tax: ISIN: 60,713.00
2,350.00
NL0000235190
All figures in € mln.
Date and currency of company report:
31.12.2014, EUR
Bloomberg (2014): German Arms-Exports Permit Crackdown Hits Airbus,
Heckler & Koch. www.bloomberg.com (Accessed 20.10.2015)
1
Airbus (2015): What we do. www.airbusgroup.com (Accessed 10.10.2015)
2
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (2015): Top 100 arms
producing companies. www.sipri.com (Accessed 14.12.2015)
3
12 MDBA Systems (2015): ASMPA datasheet. www.mdba-systems.com
Coughlin, C (2015): Saudi’s UK made war jets outnumber RAFs. 5 May, The
Telegraph. www.telegraph.com and Al Arabia News (2015): Saudi deploys
advanced fighter jets in Yemen. 27 March. www.alarabia.net (Accessed
20.10.2015)
5
(Accessed 12.10.2015)
13 Airbus Defence and Space (2015): Programmes: M51 a new generation of
missile. www.space-airbusds.com (Accessed 20.10.2015)
14 Army Technology (2015): Milan, www.army-technology.com and
Fahim, K (2015): Saudi’s face mounting pressure over civilian deaths in
Army Technology (nd): Milan ER anti-tank missile system, France.
Yemen conflict, 29 September. The New York Times. www.nytimes.com
www.army-technology.com (Accessed 20.10.2015)
(Accessed 11.11.2015)
6
11 September, Reuters. www.reuters.com (Accessed 20.10.2015)
11 MDBA Systems (2015): About MDBA Shareholders.
www.mdba-systems.com (Accessed 20.10.2015)
Airbus Defence and Space (2015): Eurofighter Typhoon.
www.airbusds.com (Accessed 20.10.2015)
4
10 Bryan, V (2014): Airbus CEO criticises German arms export rules,
15 Norges Bank Investment Management (2015): Exclusion of Companies as
Reuters (2015): Kuwait to buy eurofighters in deal worth 7-8 billion,
11 September. www.reuters.com (Accessed 11.11.2015)
7
See Supra Note 1
8
Airbus Group (2015): Military aircraft Future European MALE.
www.airbusgroup.com (Accessed 20.12.2015)
of 1 Jan 2015. www.nbim.no (Accessed 12.10.2015)
16 Heggman, G (2014): Sechs Kontrolleure schwänzen die Haupt ­
versammlung. Die Welt. 27 May www.welt.de (Accessed 20.12.2015)
17 International Campaign to abolish nuclear weapons (2015): Arguments
„Nuclear weapons are unique in
their destructive power, in the
unspeakable human suffering
they cause, in the impossibility of controlling their effects
in space and time, and in the
threat they pose to the environment, to future generations,
and indeed to the survival of
humanity.”
International Committee of the
Red Cross, 201017
for nuclear abolition. www.ican.org (Accessed 20.12.2015)
“I still like what I do, it´s a fantastic sector.
Caffeine and jet fuel keep me alert and satisfied.”
Tom Enders, Airbus CEO16
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