Dassault Aviation Could Cut Workload at U.S. Facility If U.S. Imposes Tariffs, CEO Says
The manufacturer of military aircraft and business jets posted a 30% increase in sales
French manufacturer of military aircraft and business jets Dassault Aviation AM 4.29%increase; green up pointing triangle on Wednesday posted a 30% increase in sales, beating market expectations for several key metrics, amid strong performance of its defense business.
But speaking at a press conference, the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Eric Trappier described the return of Donald Trump to the White House as “the most concerning” geopolitical development, cautioning against new tariffs to imports from the EU and a reconfiguration of the U.S.-Europe alliance.
Trump said in late February that he would soon impose 25% tariffs on the EU, claiming that the 27-member bloc was “formed to screw the United States.”
Trappier noted that under such a scenario, the 25% tariffs would not apply to the full aircraft price but only to the EU-France portion of their manufacturing costs, while the work conducted at its Little Rock facility in Arkansas, U.S., would be deducted.
The French group employs about 1,700 workers across two sites in Little Rock–a Completion Center for all Falcon jets produced worldwide, and the company-owned Service Center for Falcon customers. Dassault has operated in Arkansas since 1975.
He also urged EU leaders to spend the bloc’s funds exclusively on European defense manufacturers, after the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday that the EU’s executive arm is working on an urgent plan that could generate some 800 billion euros ($850.12 billion) of defense spending.
“We need to go beyond all the statements made on European defense,” he said. “We’ve been hearing about this for the last 30 years. I’ve pleaded for the European preference right from the year 2000 and they said that word cannot be pronounced in Brussels–it was banned from Brussels.”
Dassault Aviation, the second largest stakeholder in the aerospace and defense group Thales after the French government, posted sales worth 6.24 billion euros in 2024, up from 4.8 billion euros the previous year, and above a consensus estimate of 6 billion euros provided by Visible Alpha.
Its backlog stood at 43.22 billion euros, higher than the 38.51 billion euros reached in 2023, and above a consensus forecast of 40.93 billion euros.
For 2024, the planemaker’s order intake was worth 10.87 billion euros, up from 8.25 billion euros the prior year. Analysts had forecast 8.6 billion euros in annual orders.
For the defense business alone, the order intake grew to 8.3 billion euros last year from 6.52 billion euros in 2023.
Dassault Aviation said it has received orders to export 30 Rafale fighter jets to two new customers–Indonesia and Serbia–for which the company is ramping up production despite persistent supply-chain bottlenecks. It also received orders to manufacture 26 Falcon aircraft.
Net income stood at 923.8 million euros in 2024, up from 693.4 million euros, slightly below a consensus estimate of 926.5 million euros.
On the back of these results, Dassault Aviation guided for net sales of around 6.5 billion euros in 2025, and deliver 25 Rafale and 40 Falcon aircraft. However, it warned that its guidance for 2025 doesn’t include the impact from a potential tariff war between the U.S. and Europe.
This guidance is a “mixed bag”, Morgan Stanley analysts Ross Law and Marie-Ange Riggio said in a note, adding that those Rafale deliveries are shy of consensus, while the Falcon’s are ahead.
“We remain cautious on the outlook for the Falcon division and think there is downside risk to delivery guidance and consensus, which overshadows solid execution and a strong pipeline in defense,” they wrote.
The board declared a dividend of 4.72 euros a share for the year, up from 3.37 euros a share in 2023.