[2008_2008]

EADS' Chief Financial Officer Hans Peter Ring could revise the European aerospace group's 2008 profit forecast as it takes a hit from the weak dollar and high oil price, he told Boersen-Zeitung newspaper.
Ring currently still expected the company to achieve earnings before interest and tax of about EUR1.8 billion euros (USD$2.83 billion) this year, the paper said. And a target for some 700 plane orders at its Airbus aircraft unit remained realistic.
But Ring acknowledged in an interview with the German daily that EADS' earnings forecast was coming under pressure from the weakness of the dollar.
"It's certainly true that the risks are increasing. We will give a new indication or confirm the old one as appropriate when we reveal our first-half figures," the paper quoted Ring as saying.
EADS had hedged a volume of about USD$15 billion at an average exchange rate of USD$1.25 per euro for 2009, Ring told the paper. For 2010, the company had as of March 31 hedged a volume of about USD$14 billion at an average of USD$1.35 per euro.
EADS had since hedged further at between USD$1.50 and USD$1.55 per euro, Ring said.
"We can indeed not rule out that the dollar will fall further," the paper quoted Ring as saying.
EADS was meanwhile progressing well with its Power8 cost-cutting program, designed to bring savings of EUR2.1 billion by 2010 and slash 10,000 jobs, despite difficulties in selling Airbus plants.
"We were significantly above our target last year and will probably beat it this year too," Ring said. "Overall we are well on track with Power8."
EADS was not yet ready to publicise details of additional cost-saving measures above and beyond Power8 and said it would take time as it grapples with how best to cope with the impact of the weak dollar and soaring oil price.
"When we are ready, we will reveal the further measures. I don't want to commit to a specific date," Ring was quoted as saying.