Airbus has reported its financial results for 2017, showing an 8% increase in EBIT Adjusted (€4.3bn) on stable sales of €67bn in 2017. Net profit almost tripled, to €2.9bn.

Commercial Aircraft sales rose by 3.5% with record deliveries of 718 aircraft (2016: 688 aircraft) comprising 558 A320 Family, 78 A350 XWBs, 67 A330s and 15 A380s.

Helicopters’ sales were slightly lower with deliveries of 409 units (2016: 418 units).

Sales at Defence and Space reflected perimeter changes of around €1.7bn — primarily the divestment of security and defence electronics activities, finalised in February — but were 7% higher on a comparable basis driven mainly by military aircraft.

Order intake increased 18%, to €158bn, bring the year-end order book to €997bn, slightly down from €1,060bn the previous year. A total of 1,109 net commercial aircraft orders were booked, compared with 731 aircraft in 2016. The backlog by units reached a record year-end level of 7,265 commercial aircraft.

Net helicopter orders dipped slightly, to 335 units, including 48 Super Puma Family rotorcraft and 17 H175s.

At Defence and Space, the order intake included 22 light and medium transport aircraft, five A330 MRTT tankers and the contract with Kuwait for 28 Eurofighter Typhoons. Two all-electric telecommunication satellites were booked in the fourth quarter despite a soft market environment. Perimeter changes in the Defence and Space division had a negative impact of €1.9bn on the order book and €1.5bn on order intake.

As expected, the results included another substantial one-off charge (€1.3bn) on the A400M airlifter with the promise that future exposure will be limited. The company hopes to sign a contractually binding agreement on a revised aircraft delivery schedule, an updated technical capability roadmap and a revised retrofit schedule. Deliveries totalled 19 aircraft, compared with 17 the previous year.

For 2018, Airbus says it is targeting a 20% increase in EBIT Adjusted. The company has confirmed its target of 800 deliveries, while making it clear that the figure would depend on engine manufacturers “meeting their commitments”. The year has got off to a shaky start, with new issues emerging on the A320neo's PW1100G-JM engines … just after certification of earlier fixes.