Aerospace group EADS reports flat Q3 profit

European aerospace group EADS which controls Airbus reported flat profits for the third quarter on Thursday but a more than doubling of the net figure for the first nine months of the year. The group, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, stood by its outlook for growth for the whole of the year. The net figure for the third quarter was 309 million euros ($394.5 million) from 312 million euros in the same period of last year, representing a fall of 1.0 percent, the group said in a statement. In the first nine months, however, the net outcome was 903 million euros ($1.15 billion) from 421 million euros for the same period of last year. In the third quarter, sales rose by 15.0 percent to 12.3 billion euros, and over nine months by 14.0 percent to 37.3 billion euros. The board stood by its forecast for earnings per share of 1.95 euros and said it expected sales to rise by more than 10.0 percent, having referred to 10.0 percent in its statement at the end of the first six months of the year. The programmes by Airbus for building airliners were in line with the timetables laid down, the company said. The first flight of the A350XWB, a long-haul aircraft made mainly of composite materials, was still planned for the middle of 2013 for entry into service at the end of 2014. The company acknowledged that the programme was highly ambitious. In the first half of this year, EADS made a provision of 124 million euros in respect of this latest aircraft. Airbus said that it was in line with its timetable for dealing with cracks at the roots of the wings for its superjumbo aircraft, the A380. Airbus said that it still expected to deliver 30 A380 aircraft in 2012, and this meant that the total cost of dealing with the problems of cracks would be about 260 million euros for the full year. EADS also booked a charge of 76 million euros for halting the programme of business aircraft under the name of US company Hawker Beechcraft.