After three years of losses, Thomson-CSF has revealed a swing back into profit for 1996, putting the French defence-electronics giant on track for its pending privatisation.
The group's net profit of Fr745 million ($131 million) reversed a loss of Fr791 million in 1995. Profits are expected to continue to rise, with analysts predicting more than Fr1 billion in 1997.
Most of the gain results from the withdrawal in December 1986 of Thomson from its stake in the troubled state-owned Credit Lyonnais bank, which had burdened the group's result.
Thomson-CSF's operating profit was Fr2 billion on sales that were up marginally at Fr36.2 billion. The profits came despite a further charge of Fr824 million, which comes on top of Fr753 million in 1995, to cover the cost of 5,000 job losses in 1996-7.
Source: Flight International