Airbus Defense And Space Unit To Sell Some Businesses, Focus On Warplanes And Missiles

Airbus Group (EPA:AIR), on Tuesday, announced plans to streamline the operations of its defense and space division by selling its communications business and some of its subsidiaries and to focus on its “core businesses.”

“Airbus Defence and Space has defined Space (Launchers & Satellites), Military Aircraft, Missiles and related Systems and Services as its future core businesses,” Airbus, which is Europe’s largest aerospace company, said in a statement released Tuesday.

Under the new plan, Airbus will sell its communications business, including its Professional Mobile Radio division as well as its commercial satellite communications service, and many of its subsidiaries and stakes in companies such as Fairchild Controls, Rostock System and Atlas Elektronik.

“Given the tight budgetary situation in our home countries and increasing competition on global markets, the portfolio review is an essential element to further develop our defence and space business and to ensure its competitiveness,” Bernhard Gerwert, CEO of Airbus Defence and Space, said in the statement.

The assets being sold account for a combined revenue of nearly $2.5 billion, according to a Reuters report.

“I want to make clear that this is not just about cutting more jobs or closing more sites, quite the contrary,” Gerwert told Reuters. “We’re focusing on certain businesses and are looking for someone who’s willing to develop and invest in these businesses.”

In December last year, Airbus had announced 5,800 job cuts at its defense operations, making it the company’s biggest layoff in over five years. The layoffs accounted for nearly 15 percent of its workforce in the defense and space division, which currently employs 40,000 people and has annual revenue of nearly $18 billion, the company said.