Thaindian News

Neuilly-sur-Seine (France), Feb 19 (IANS) French electronics major Thales Friday reported revenues of 12,881 euros in 2009, an organic growth of two percent.
At its board meeting here, the company also reported an order intake of 13,927 million euros, with several major contracts booked in France, besides exports

“In a persistently depressed global economic environment, our revenue growth and robust order intake are testimony to the solid foundations of our customer base, primarily governments and infrastructure operators,” Thales chairman and CEO Luc Vigneron said.

“However, our results have been affected by significant difficulties on a number of contracts and by the crisis in the air transport sector,” he added.

“With a new management team in place, clear targets through the Probasis action plan and an organisational structure that brings us closer to our customers, the entire company is focused on returning to profitable growth,” Vigneron maintained.

Order intake by the space businesses increased sharply by 17 percent to 1,596 million euros, with several major orders for observation satellites and telecommunication satellites, as well as pressurised modules for the International Space Station, a Thales statement said.

Defence orders decreased by five percent to 6,093 million euros, compared with €6,547m in 2008.

Security orders were virtually stable compared with 2008 at 3,390 million euros with order intake from institutional customers strong. Several key orders were booked in rail signaling and rail traffic management, both for urban transportation projects and main line projects.

“For 2010, Thales expects revenues to remain stable, with the significant volume of new orders recorded over the last two years from institutional customers (government and infrastructure operators) offsetting the unfavourable impact of the economic climate and the crisis in the air transport sector,” the statement said.