Airbus maker EADS closes merger saga as profit leaps

Shares in Europe's largest aerospace company reached a record high on Wednesday after it unveiled higher than expected 2012 earnings and raised its dividend despite charges at its defence and helicopter operations.

Chief Executive Tom Enders said he was "comfortable" with defence providing only 20-25 percent of overall group revenue, rather than the long-targeted equal split that would have resulted from a deal with BAE, which fell apart late last year.

Investors had largely opposed the deal because it would have diluted their exposure to strong demand from airlines in emerging markets - a rare bright spot in an otherwise bleak climate for industrial goods made in Western economies.

While European arms spending has been hit hard by budget cuts, passenger jet production has largely ridden out the economic crisis thanks to brisk civil demand led by Asia.

"Maybe it is not a bad time to have a smaller rather than larger defence business," Enders told a news conference.

Strategy chief Marwan Lahoud told Reuters that the BAE deal was now "off the table", dismissing lingering speculation that EADS was still harbouring hopes of reviving the deal.

EADS, which makes drones, fighter jets and missiles, will study defence activities and potentially stop some of them if they fail to meet the group's criteria, he said in an interview.

But he emphasized that EADS remained in the defence business, which

... contd.