PARIS — Safran reported Thursday a record net profit of nearly 1 billion euros (US $1.32 billion) in 2012, an increase of 55% from the 2011 level, and said that the outlook for this year was "very good.”
Sales were boosted by strong demand from the aircraft-making sector and rose to 13.5 billion euros, an increase of 15.5% compared with a target of slightly more than 10%.
Current operating profit rose 23.7%, beating the group's target of 20%.
The net profit was 999 million euros from 644 million euros in 2011.
For this year, the company expected sales to rise 5% and current operating profit to increase 15%.
But the price of shares in the group fell 4.51% in morning trading to 33.49 euros per share. The overall CAC 40 index was showing a fall of 1.82%.
At Global Equities, trader Xavier de Villepion said that the figures were remarkable but that investors were selling, possibly because they thought the share, which had risen 40% last year, looked expensive.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2013
