EADS annual results

Here in Paris for the EADS annual results. Chief executive Louis Gallois has kicked off by listing many of EADS's achievements in the 10 years since it was created in July 2000. It is hard to argue that the Franco-German combine hasn't had some remarkable successes, with Airbus displacing Boeing as the world's number one airliner manufacturer in the early 1990s and Eurocopter consolidating its position as the number one in its sector.

The big issue dominating this year's results - and overshadowing a reasonably positive performance from EADS - has been the troubled A400M programme. Although revenues stood still in 2009 at 42.8 billion euros, the company sunk into an EBIT loss of 322 million euros, mostly due to the provision it has had to make for the A400M.

The agreement with the customer nations is better news for EADS than many had been expecting and is the result of some very clever negotiating - some might say brinksmanship - by Gallois and Airbus chief executive Tom Enders. Ultimately, the seven governments could not afford to take the political risk of destroying the programme, with all the impact on high-skill jobs and Europe's defence technology base that would have entailed.

EADS will now be hoping that the bad old days of the programme are behind it and, with flight testing now progressing, the A400M can get back on track, deliver a badly-needed and extremely versatile airlifter to its customers and perhaps even secure some export orders, revenue from which will have to be shared with the seven nations as part of the funding deal agreed last week.