France’s Dassault Aviation forecast higher net sales for 2019 and more orders of planes as it posted a rise in annual sales and profits.
The maker of Rafale warplanes and Falcon business jets said its 2018 operating profits had surged 87% from the previous year to 669 million euros ($761 million), while net sales rose 4.3% to 5.08 billion euros.
Adjusted net profits rose 66% to 681 million euros.
Analysts were on average expecting operating income of 463 million euros on sales of 4.952 billion, according to Eikon Refinitiv data.
Dassault Aviation, in which Airbus has a 9.9% stake, said it planned to deliver 45 Falcon and 26 Export Rafales in 2019.
Dassault Aviation increased its dividend to 21.2 euros from 15.3 euros last year.
