European aerospace group EADS reported a thin profit for the first quarter and vowed not to abandon its "inevitable" restructuring.
The group, whose profits slumped 94 per cent last year on the back of a weak dollar and industrial problems at struggling planemaker Airbus, posted net profit of €10 million in the first three months of the year, down from €522 million in the same quarter of 2006.
EADS earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) in the quarter dropped to €89 million from €791 million a year ago, after a €688 million provision at the planemaker as part of its Power8 restructuring programme. Group sales dipped to €9 billion from €9.1 billion.
Analysts had on average forecast still worse - a group-wide EBIT loss of €284 million and a net loss of €237 million - so the company's shares were up 0.5 per cent on the day at €23.62 earlier today.
Unions are contesting Airbus's plans to cut 10,000 jobs and sell or spin off factories to save cash following a traumatic year of production delays to the A380 superjumbo.
French plants have been hit by a series of unofficial walkouts in recent weeks after the announcement of the job cuts and plans to sell all or part of six European plants.