Thales Confirms 2021 Outlook, Says Australia Canceling Submarine Program Won't Hurt Earnings

   By Olivia Bugault 
 

Thales SA said Thursday that Australia's decision to end its Australian Future Submarine program shouldn't materially affect its earnings, and backed its 2021 financial target.

Australia has decided acquire nuclear-powered submarines from the U.S. and the U.K. via a new security partnership instead of proceeding with the Australian Future Submarine program, it said.

"From a financial point of view, Thales is exposed to this program at two levels: as a supplier of subsystems to Lockheed Martin, and as a 35% shareholder of [naval defense contractor] Naval Group," the French aerospace-and-defense company said.

The order booked with Lockheed Martin Corp. as part of this program represents less than 0.1% of Thales's total order book, the company said.

Meanwhile, Thales doesn't expect the decision to materially impact its earnings before interest and taxes this year due to its stake in Naval Group, it said.

Thales confirmed its 2021 financial targets which include sales between 15.8 billion and 16.3 billion euros ($18.67 billion-$19.26 billion).

Write to Olivia Bugault at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 16, 2021 03:44 ET (07:44 GMT)

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