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Aerospace equipment OEM Latecoere seeking new deals

French aerospace equipment maker Latecoere is on the look out for acquisitions so it can expand and win bigger contracts from leading aircraft manufacturers, chief executive officer Yannick Assouad said on Monday.


September 19, 2017  By Reuters

Latecoere, which supplies fuselages and doors to Airbus and Boeing, expects consolidation to accelerate after Britain’s GKN acquired Dutch firm Fokker in 2015 and the U.S. firm LMI bought Belgium’s Sonaca.

“We have a certain number of targets we are working on but acquisitions are a little bit like fishing: one has to put a lot of lines into water to try and catch a fish,” Assouad said during the presentation of Latecoere’s half-year results.

To secure bigger contracts from Airbus and Boeing, Assouad said Latecoere had to demonstrate it had the capacity to generate sufficient cash flow to finance new developments.

“And that requires a certain size and . . .  a very large number of players are too small to reach that,” the chief executive said.

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Latecoere, which improved its operating margin in the first six months and confirmed its annual guidance, gained 5 per cent in Monday trade.

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