FACING FINANCE | Dirty Profits | 2016 | 9

Estimated value of underwritten shares and bonds: Crédit Agricole 822.50 HSBC 225.00 BNP Paribas 225.00 Commerzbank 187.50 Deutsche Bank 125.00

Estimated value of managed shares and bonds: KfW 5,439.69 BlackRock 1,244.01 Vanguard 804.78 Crédit Agricole 476.82 Deutsche Bank 405.26

Revenues: 60,713.00

Profit after tax: 2,350.00

ISIN: NL0000235190

All figures in € mln. Date and currency of company report: 31.12.2014, EUR

airbus Group Se

A irbus Group (known as EADS until 2014), headquartered in the Netherlands, is one of the largest aerospace corporations in

Europe. Airbus has significant operations in the defence sector.1 According to SIPRI 2014, Airbus Group ranked 7th largest in the world by arms sales, although this only made up 18% of their total sales.2

Airbus produces the multipurpose combat plane, Eurofighter Typhoon 3, which has been bought by Saudi Arabia and used in military campaigns in Yemen.4 These campaigns have been widely criticised for resulting in significant civilian casualties.5 Eurofighters have also recently been bought by Kuwait.6 Airbus claims to

“play a leading role in the markets for future unmanned aerial systems”.7 Together with Dassault and Alenia Aermacchi, Airbus has been contracted to begin development of a European Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) drone that will be used for reconnaissance purposes and can also be armed.8

1 Airbus (2015): What we do. www.airbusgroup.com (Accessed 10.10.2015)

2 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (2015): Top 100 arms producing companies. www.sipri.com (Accessed 14.12.2015)

3 Airbus Defence and Space (2015): Eurofighter Typhoon. www.airbusds.com (Accessed 20.10.2015)

4 Coughlin, C (2015): Saudi’s UK made war jets outnumber RAFs. 5 May, The Telegraph. www.telegraph.com and Al Arabia News (2015): Saudi deploys advanced fighter jets in Yemen. 27 March. www.alarabia.net (Accessed 20.10.2015)

5 Fahim, K (2015): Saudi’s face mounting pressure over civilian deaths in Yemen conflict, 29 September. The New York Times. www.nytimes.com (Accessed 11.11.2015)

6 Reuters (2015): Kuwait to buy eurofighters in deal worth 7-8 billion, 11 September. www.reuters.com (Accessed 11.11.2015)

7 See Supra Note 1

8 Airbus Group (2015): Military aircraft Future European MALE. www.airbusgroup.com (Accessed 20.12.2015)

In response to restrictive export laws in Germany, with Germany preventing the export of helicopter components where they will be used in countries such as Uzbekistan, Airbus noted it is currently considering relocating their helicopter programs to France rather than staying in Germany.9 Airbus has previously criticised the German Government’s restrictive arms export policy.10

Additionally Airbus holds 37,5% of shares of the joint venture MBDA, together with BAE Systems (UK) and Finmeccanica (Italy).11 MBDA produce the ASMPA air launched nuclear missile the M51 and M45 nuclear ballistic missiles for the French nuclear deterrent force.12 13 The anti-tank missile Milan is also produced by MBDA in France and under licence in other countries such as India.14 Based on their evident involvement in the production of nuclear weapons, the Norwegian Government Pension Fund excluded Airbus Group SE from their investments.15

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9 Bloomberg (2014): German Arms-Exports Permit Crackdown Hits Airbus, Heckler & Koch. www.bloomberg.com (Accessed 20.10.2015)

10 Bryan, V (2014): Airbus CEO criticises German arms export rules, 11 September, Reuters. www.reuters.com (Accessed 20.10.2015)

11 MDBA Systems (2015): About MDBA Shareholders. www.mdba-systems.com (Accessed 20.10.2015)

12 MDBA Systems (2015): ASMPA datasheet. www.mdba-systems.com (Accessed 12.10.2015)

13 Airbus Defence and Space (2015): Programmes: M51 a new generation of missile. www.space-airbusds.com (Accessed 20.10.2015)

14 Army Technology (2015): Milan, www.army-technology.com and Army Technology (nd): Milan ER anti-tank missile system, France. www.army-technology.com (Accessed 20.10.2015)

15 Norges Bank Investment Management (2015): Exclusion of Companies as of 1 Jan 2015. www.nbim.no (Accessed 12.10.2015)

16 Heggman, G (2014): Sechs Kontrolleure schwänzen die Haupt-versammlung. Die Welt. 27 May www.welt.de (Accessed 20.12.2015)

17 International Campaign to abolish nuclear weapons (2015): Arguments for nuclear abolition. www.ican.org (Accessed 20.12.2015)

“I still like what I do, it́ s a fantastic sector. Caffeine and jet fuel keep me alert and satisfied.”

Tom Enders, Airbus CEO16

„Nuclear weapons are unique in

their destructive power, in the

unspeakable human suffering

they cause, in the impossibil-

ity of controlling their effects

in space and time, and in the

threat they pose to the environ-

ment, to future generations,

and indeed to the survival of

humanity.”

International Committee of the Red Cross, 201017

◀ Photo: Eurosatory 2014, Airbus military helicopter© Facing Finance