Airbus maker EADS closes merger saga as profit leaps

BOUNCED BACK

EADS operating profit rose 68 percent to 3 billion euros ($3.92 billion) in 2012 for an operating margin of 5.3 percent on revenue up 15 percent to 56.5 billion euros.

Net profit grew 19 percent to 1.2 billion. Analysts had forecast EADS revenue of 54.88 billion euros and net income of 1.475 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S data.

For 2013 it targeted 3.5 billion euros in operating profit and earnings per share of 2.5 euros, up from 2.24 euros, before a planned share buyback linked to a shake-up of shareholdings.

EADS stock rose 6.5 percent to its highest-ever close of 37.14 euros, helping France's blue-chip CAC 40 index gain 2 percent.

"The market is in a generous mood towards EADS," said London-based Agency Partners analyst Nick Cunningham.

"It likes risky cyclicals now, and the (share) buyback adds about 15 percent to earnings in a full year. It is an earnings-driven equities market right now."

However, he warned an extended civil aerospace cycle was finally running out of steam and other risks had not gone away.

Airbus has also bounced back from the discovery a year ago of wing cracks inside the A380 superjumbo, with the spotlight falling instead on Boeing Co, which is wrestling with battery problems on its grounded 787 Dreamliner.

EADS said it had largely absorbed the costs of fixing the A380, the world's largest airliner. Any further potential one-off costs should be limited mainly

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