Arianespace: Back in the Black in 2003

At the general assembly of Arianespace shareholders, which was held today in Paris, the company’s financial results for 2003 were approved.

Sales for 2003 were 559 million euros, resulting in a net profit of 9.2 million euros.

Despite a continuingly difficult commercial market and extremely aggressive competition, these figures were the result of:

• The reaffirmation of support forEurope’s launch industry by European Space Agency member states, with the implementation of a return to flight plan for the Ariane 5 ECA, as well as the European Guaranteed Access to Space (EGAS) program;
• The restructuringEurope’s launcher industry, which enabled the readjustment of Ariane 5 production costs to bring them back in line with market pricing;
• Increased flexibility for Arianespace customers through development of the European family of vehicles – Ariane, Soyuz and Vega – and the establishment of the Launch Services Alliance, which associates Arianespace with Boeing Launch Services and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries;
• The internal reorganization of the company itself, which now has more than 250 employees grouped into three sectors focused on sales, programs and finance, and which is perfectly suited to serve as the European Space Agency’s sole contractor for launch services.

In 2003, Arianespace won 8 of the 17 launch services contracts open to competition, thus reaffirming its role as the world’s leading launch services provider. The current backlog for Arianespace is 33 satellites to be launched, valued at more than three billion euros.

About Arianespace

Arianespace is the commercial launch services leader, holding more than 50 percent of the international market for satellites launched to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). Created in 1980 as the world’s first commercial space transportation company, Arianespace has signed contracts for the launch of more than 250 satellite payloads. For further information, see the Arianespace Web site at www.arianespace.com.