Dassault reported a 66% jump in net profit for 2018, at €681m, on sales of €5.1bn (+4%). Exports accounted for 78% of sales.

Operating profit increased 87%, to €669m, boosting the operating margin to 13.2% (vs 7.3% the previous year), including the $280m compensation received from Safran following the termination of the Silvercrest engine for the Falcon 5X.

Order intake was substantially higher than the previous year, at just over €5bn (vs. €3.3bn in 2017), thanks to a threefold increase in defence orders — 12 Rafales for Qatar and launch of F4 standard for France. The company booked 42 net orders for Falcon bizjets (52 orders, minus cancellation of the last 10 Falcon 5X), compared with 38 orders in 2017 (41 orders, minus three 5X cancellations).

Exports accounted for 80% of orders.

Nine Rafales were delivered to Egypt in 2018, along with three Rafales for France (vs. Eight and one, respectively the previous year). In addition, two Rafale Marine aircraft retrofitted to the F3 standard were delivered to France. For 2019, Dassault plans to deliver 45 Falcons and 26 Export Rafales, leading to a significant rise in sales.

Falcon deliveries dropped from 49 to 41, in line with guidance.