Airbus Charges To Hit EADS Profit

Airbus parent EADS posted a 6 percent rise in first-half operating profit on Thursday, but warned design and manufacturing problems could spill over to hit 2006 earnings.

The company said it expected full-year profit to come in at the bottom end of its previous forecast as it grapples with problems with the A380 superjumbo, a costly redesign of another model and losses on the sale of its Sogerma maintenance business.

Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) before goodwill and exceptional items rose to EUR1.6 billion euros (USD$2 billion) from EUR1.5 billion (USD$1.9 billion) a year ago.

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