Thales Claims Satellite Profit Advantage over Airbus

摘要

Thales Group Chief Executive Jean-Bernard Levy on July 24 said the company's majority-owned satellite manufacturer, Thales Alenia Space, now sells commercial telecommunications satellites more profitably than competitor Airbus Defence and Space and that Thales' Earth observation business also books "quite attractive" operating margins. Reporting on Paris-based Thales' financial results for the first six months of 2014, Levy sought to reassure investors that the company's recent telecommunications satellite wins - four so far this year after a dry spell - have not come at the expense of profitability. In addition to two satellites for KT of Korea, one for PT Telkom of Indonesia and one for Inmarsat of London with Arabsat of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Thales has booked an order valued at more than 100 million euros ($136 million) for radar reconnaissance satellite payloads for a European customer.