MBDA eyes Spanish expansion

MBDA has said that transitioning into Spain is an ‘important objective’ for the European company as it celebrated a 7% profit increase in 2010.

Speaking at a press conference on 16 March, the missile company’s CEO, Antoine Bouvier, said Spain is ‘to become step-by-step a domestic country for MBDA’.

The Anglo-French company already has industrial facilities in France, Germany, Italy and the UK, and an office was established in Madrid in 2010.

Despite ‘huge pressure’ on the defence budget, the Spanish Government still decided to sign MBDA’s Meteor Operation contract in 2010, to the delight of Bouvier.

While stating that each country has its own regulatory environment and that each defence budget is ‘under pressure’, Bouvier described missile defence as an ‘important subject’ on the military agenda.

Julian Whitehead, chief financial officer of MBDA, said that in 2010 the company achieved a turnover of €2.8 billion, which represented an overall increase in its profits of 8%, which adjusted to an underlined 7% compared to 2009 once exchange rates were considered.

This was ‘driven to a large extent by increased delivery on exports’, which rose from 29% to 32%, according to Whitehead.

The company delivered more than 10% return on sales, which signifies the ninth year in which its sales have increased.

However, the ‘frustration’ with the results was that export orders dropped from some 50% in 2009 to 31% in 2010. Whitehead said this was due to a number of opportunities having arisen in 2010, which continue, but had yet to be secured.

The company hopes that 2011 will redress the balance, and argued that the ‘financials remain strong’.

MBDA is also looking outside of Europe to Brazil, India, and UAE. Bouvier acknowledged that it will take some time, but said it aims to step-by-step grow its presence in the US.

He added that MBDA is ‘expecting from 2011 some more tangible results in our US strategy’.

Whitehead commented that the US Department of Defense is a customer of MBDA, but at present not a major one.

The company marks its tenth anniversary at the end of 2011, and Bouvier said it wants to celebrate it with ‘flying colours’ with a growth of 40-50%.