Airbus SE (AIR) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Now it's 1:30 and Germans are always on time. So ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, on behalf of the Board of Directors and on behalf of the entire company, I would like to warmly welcome you to this 2024 Annual General Meeting. It is a privilege and it is a pleasure to be here with my colleagues and to engage with you, our shareholders in person. And whether you are here with us in-person in Amsterdam or whether you are following us by video, I'd like to thank you very much for taking the time to join us today and for the interest you continue to show in our company, in Airbus. Before officially opening the meeting, let's watch a quick short video showing some of our highlights from 2023, so you can see how we continue to putting our purpose into practice since last year. [Presentation]

So in order to start this meeting, I would like to introduce you first to the Airbus management team members who are seated by my side. First and foremost, Guillaume Faury, Chief Executive Officer and an Executive Board Member and Guillaume will give us an update on Airbus' business in a few moments. Then there is Thomas Toepfer, who has been our Chief Financial Officer since the 1st of September last year and for who, this will be his first AGM as CFO. Thomas, we are very happy you joined us and a special welcome to you. John Harrison, General Counsel and Head of Airbus Public Affairs, who will act as the Secretary of the meeting; and Julie Kitcher, Julie is our Chief Sustainability Officer and Head of Communications, who will give an update on Airbus' sustainability journey. In addition to those on stage with me, I would like to introduce you to my fellow Non-Executive Board members who are up for appointment or reappointment this year and are seated at the front of the audience or have joined virtually. Firstly, Amparo Moraleda. Amparo is our lead independent Board member and Chairwoman of the Remuneration, Nomination and Governance Committee. Amparo is also a member of the Ethics, Compliance and Sustainability Committee. Then there is Jean-Pierre Clamadieu. He's not here today personally for a personal reason. He's Chairman of the Ethics, Compliance and Sustainability Committee and a member of the Remuneration, Nomination and Governance Committee, whose mandate renewal is also submitted for your approval today. And finally, it is a big pleasure to introduce you to Dr. Feiyu Xu, whose appointment as a Non-Executive Board member is submitted for your approval today. If approved, Feiyu will succeed Ralph Crosby and will become a member of the Audit Committee as well. I would like to seize the opportunity here of thanking Ralph Crosby for his tremendous contribution to the company and to the Board during his 11 years of service. I will further introduce you to Feiyu a little later in the meeting. But for now, if I may ask you, please give a warm welcome to Dr. Feiyu Xu. Thank you. I would also like to introduce you to 2 of the company's legal representatives who are with us today. The first being Paul van der Bijl from NautaDutilh, Paul, Counsel of the company in the Netherlands and Edouard Eltvedt, who's our Internal Head of Legal Corporate Affairs. Furthermore, Nico Pul and [ Delfin Cottons ] from Ernst & Young, is from EY as auditor of the company are also present at this meeting. I will now hand over to our General Counsel and Head of Public Affairs, John Harrison, who will start with a few legal formalities before I take over again. John?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to draw your attention to some practical matters. In accordance with the company's Articles of Association, this meeting will be held in English. However, for your convenience, you have a simultaneous translation mechanism with you into English, Channel 1; French, Channel 2; German, Channel 3; Spanish, Channel 4; and Dutch, Channel 5. The use of mobile phones and recording devices is prohibited and these devices must be switched off from now on, please. Please note this meeting is being broadcasted by public webcast until the end of the presentations. Shareholders who requested to follow the meeting and are not in the meeting room, will have access to the entire meeting broadcast. So in accordance with Dutch legal requirements and the company's Articles of Association, we've complied with all of the convening formalities. On the 31st of January 2024, the date of the Annual General Meeting was published on our company website. And on the 28th of February 2024, a convening notice, including the agenda and attendance procedures, was also published on our company website. The documentation for this AGM, which has been available for all shareholders consists of the agenda, the text and the presentation of the proposed resolutions, report of the Board of Directors for 2023, the audited annual accounts for 2023 and the report from the auditors for 2023. This documentation has been available since the 28th of February at the company's registered office in the Netherlands. In addition, it's also available on the Airbus website. The Board of Directors approved the agenda for today's meeting and the total number of issued shares of the company and the number of voting shares present or represented will now be shown on the screen. Okay. So this means that this Annual General Meeting has been legally convened and it can validly decide on all the matters of the agenda. Now the AGM agenda will include the following items: First, the Chairman will deliver a general introductory statement; then the CEO will give an overview of major events, the annual accounts for 2023 and the policy on dividend. Then there will be a presentation by EY as statutory auditors on their audit for the financial year 2023, followed by presentation by Airbus Chief Sustainability Officer on the progress made with regards to the company's journey leading clean aerospace. Then there will be a Q&A session covering all of the items of the agenda. And finally, we will proceed to vote on the 17 resolutions, 1 by 1 without further discussion. And these, I'm going to read them very quickly. Resolution #1 will be the adoption of the audited accounts for the financial year 2023. #2 will be the approval of the result allocation and the distribution of a regular dividend for the financial year '23. #3 will be approval of an extraordinary dividend for the financial year 2023. Resolution #4 will be release from liability of the Non-Executive members of the Board of Directors. And resolution #5, the release from liability of the Executive Member of the Board of Directors. #6 will be the renewal of the appointment of Ernst & Young as auditor for the financial year 2024. Resolution #7 will be the approval as an advisory vote of the implementation of the remuneration plan for last year, financial year 2023. #8 will be the adoption of the Board of Directors' remuneration policy. #9 will be the reappointment of René Obermann as Non-Executive member of the Board of Directors for a term of 3 years. #10 will be the reappointment of Mr. Victor Chu as Non-Executive Member of the Board of Directors for a term of 3 years. #11 will be the reappointment of Mr. Jean-Pierre Clamadieu as Non-Executive Member of the Board of Directors for a term of 3 years. And #12 will be the reappointment of Mrs. Amparo Moraleda as Non-Executive member of the Board of Directors for a term of 3 years. And #13 will be the appointment of Dr. Feiyu Xu as Non-Executive member of the Board for a term of 2 years in replacement of Ralph Crosby, who resigned with effect of the date today. #14 will be delegation to the Board of Directors of powers to issue, to grant rights, to subscribe for shares and to limit or exclude preferential subscription rights of existing shareholders for the purpose of employee share ownership plans and share-related long-term incentive plans. We're nearly getting there. #15, delegation to the Board of Directors of powers to issue shares, to grant rights to subscribe for shares and to limit or exclude preferential subscription rights of existing shareholders for the purposes of funding and other corporate purposes of the company and its group companies. #16 will be the renewal of the authorization for the Board of Directors to repurchase up to 10% of the company's issued share capital. And finally, resolution #17, which will be the cancellation of shares repurchased by the company. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, John. Let me provide you with an overview of the year 2023 for Airbus. It was a year of fragile economic growth, as you're all aware, against the backdrop of instability in some parts of the world as the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine continued, a major conflict flared up in the Middle East as a consequence of a terror attack on civilians. The events of the year underscored the need for increased resilience and for preparation for change, whether it be geopolitical, economic, societal or technological. Defense, again demonstrated its crucial purpose from protecting people and critical assets to supporting the flow of essential humanitarian. A stronger and technologically even more advanced defense industry will be essential to increase Europe's sovereignty and capability as a reliable partner in NATO. Cooperation between countries and between companies is key in Europe as well. Perhaps one of the best examples will be the Future Combat Air System or more commonly known as the FCAS project in which Airbus plays a key role. The aerospace industry saw robust demand for the most efficient commercial aircraft as airlines financials generally improved and passenger traffic increased. During 2023, the Board and its committees reviewed and monitored operational and strategic topics central to the Airbus of today and to the Airbus of tomorrow, with a continued closed -- sorry, not closed, close monitoring of sustainability developments and other areas of focus such as supply chain challenges including but not limited to, engines, in the context of increasing commercial aircraft production rates. Dedicated sessions took place, focusing on information technology, specifically also on artificial intelligence and other business-critical topics like cybersecurity and enterprise risk management. Board members were kept informed about developments in other areas as well, including safety and important human resources topics. The Board worked closely with management to optimize the governance of commercial aircraft, after navigating a series of major headwinds in recent years, including the pandemic. By appointing a dedicated commercial aircraft leadership team and CEO in January this year, the company's single largest activity is well positioned to deliver on both its short- and long-term objectives. As I said, sustainability is and will be a central topic for the Board overall and the Ethics, Compliance and Sustainability Committee in particular. A dedicated strategy session focusing on decarbonization took place covering areas such as the rollout of sustainable aviation fuels and new technologies to develop even more efficient aircraft in the future. There was also a review of human rights and critical materials in our supply chain. As in previous years, Board members went to see Airbus sites to increase their knowledge and understanding and to engage with employees, i.e., a meeting at an Airbus Atlantic facility took place in Tunisia, a visit to the Getafe site in Spain or a meeting with the FCAS team in Manching, Germany, took place as well. In Toulouse, Board members were also briefed about the progress in what we call DDMS, Digital Design, Manufacturing & Services program, which aims to reduce costs but also time to market for products by deploying digital tools. The 2023 results and our confidence in the future financial performance underpin our proposal for a gross dividend payment of EUR 1.80 per share as in the previous year. The board is also proposing the payment of a special dividend of EUR 1 a share, which also reflects the stronger year-end net cash position. I would now like to focus in further detail on a particular topic of relevance. First of all, with regard to a topic that was on the agenda of last year's AGM. We announced on March 19 that after careful consideration of all aspects of a potential acquisition of Atos' BDS, Big Data & Security division or business line, that we will no longer pursue discussions with Atos about this potential transaction. This, however, does not change our ambition to continue growing as a European aerospace and air defense leader, which would include cybersecurity capabilities. Let me proceed with another topic, namely the renewals of the directors' mandates and director appointments, which are being proposed for your approval today. With respect to the renewal of current mandates, the 4 Non-Exec Directors proposed for reelection at this Annual General Meeting are Victor Chu, Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, Amparo Moraleda and myself. I will give you some brief details about the first 3 and then I think John will take over to discuss my reappointment. First of all, Director, Victor Chu. He was first appointed in 2018. Victor serves as a Chairman and CEO of First Eastern Investment Group, a Hong Kong-based international investment firm, which he created in 1988, as well as a member of the Board of Nomura Holdings, where he also serves. Victor is very active with several international institutions such as the World Economic Forum and the Royal Institute of International Affairs. His membership in various Boards of Directors, including China Merchants China Direct, Peach Aviation and Sustainable Development Capital and his sound executive leadership experience bring valuable insights into our Airbus Board. Based on his profound knowledge of the Chinese and more broadly Asian markets, he also provides a valuable strategic insight and he helps to build bridges between the Western and the Eastern world. For a global company like Airbus, this is very important. Turning next to Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, who was also first appointed at the AGM in 2018. Jean-Pierre currently serves as Chairman of the Board of ENGIE, a global reference in the low-carbon energy sector. Jean-Pierre was the CEO of Solvay, which is a global leader in chemicals from 2011 to 2019. Before, between '93 and 2011, he held various executive positions within the Rhodia Group, which successfully merged with Solvay. Based on his technical background as an engineer, based on his strong experience in developing an industrial corporation, his experience in communicating with financial markets and successfully leading international management teams, jean-Pierre brings valuable insights to our Board and as Chairman to our Ethics, Compliance and Sustainability Committee, where he has served since 2020 already. Now he's also a member of our Remuneration, Nomination and Governance Committee. Next, I will turn to Amparo Moraleda. She was first appointed in 2015. Amparo currently is a member of the Board of Directors of A.P. Moller - Maersk, CaixaBank and Vodafone. She served as COO of Iberdrola, one of the world's leading power utilities. And previously, she held various positions within the IBM Group, notably as General Manager of IBM Spain, Portugal, Greece, Israel and Turkey. With her sound technical/technology background, her experience in technological innovation in data management, international business and management, her membership in various international corporate boards and trusts of institutions and bodies including the Spanish Royal Academy of Economic and Financial Sciences, Amparo provides highly relevant expertise to the Board. She has served as a Chair of the Remuneration, Nomination and Governance Committee since 2019 and is a member of the Ethics, Compliance and Sustainability Committee. In addition, she is the Lead Independent Director of the Board and serves as a member of the Board of Airbus Foundation.

Perhaps I can provide you with some background information on the proposal for the reappointment of our Chairman, René Obermann, who was first appointed at the 2018 AGM. René currently serves as Co-Head of Europe and Managing Director of Warburg Pincus Deutschland GmbH, as a member of the Supervisory Board of IONOS Group SE. Prior to joining Warburg Pincus, which is a leading global private equity firm in 2015, he was CEO of Ziggo BV in the Netherlands until its merger with UPC. From 1998 onwards, initially as Managing Director and later as CEO of its mobile division, T-Mobile International, René worked at Deutsche Telekom AG. Between October 2006 and December 2013, he led the group as Chief Executive Officer. René began his career by starting up and then running a company in the telecommunications sector until 1998. Prior to Airbus, he served on various boards of large corporations. And as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Airbus since April 2020 and as a former member of its Audit Committee and Ethics and Compliance and Sustainability Committee, René favors open and trustful debates amongst a diverse and skilled Board and he's been instrumental in driving its performance, which makes René a pivotal member of the Board. With his entrepreneurial background, his in-depth knowledge of new technologies and in leading international management teams, including top executive experience, René brings the right competencies and strategic mindset for the company's business transformation. So subject to his renewal by this AGM and subject to approval by the Board of Directors, René will remain the Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors. Thank you.

Thanks much for the introduction, John. I would now like to introduce -- and it's a big pleasure, Dr. Feiyu Xu, as we are also asking the AGM to approve her appointment as a Non-Executive Board member. Feiyu is a leading figure in the field of AI, not only in Germany but certainly in Germany but also internationally. She was Senior Vice President at SAP. I don't need to introduce SAP to you, overseeing the transformation of this corporation as Global Head of AI for several years, until 2023. Feiyu notably defined and orchestrated the implementation of the AI strategy. Prior to joining SAP, Feiyu was Head of the AI Lab at Lenovo Research from March 2017 to March 2020 at the company's headquarters in Beijing. Prior to working for the Lenovo Group, Feiyu was a principal researcher at the German Research Center for AI, which is the Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz, leading the research group of text analytics in the language technology lab. In her various executive and entrepreneurial roles in the technology industry, Feiyu acquired extensive experience in the entire cycle of innovation, ranging from basic research via AI development all the way to products and their commercialization. Thanks to her deep technological experience and knowledge, Feiyu will be able to support the company to assess and to strategize on the impact of emerging technologies on its business, which will be extremely valuable in the years to come. As you all know, AI will be almost in everything we do in the future. Airbus' guiding principle governing director appointments is that the best candidate should be appointed to the position. With the appointment of Feiyu, the company increases the current proportion of female Directors on the board from 33% to 42%. We believe this will contribute to even greater effectiveness, through more diversity, especially with regard to profile, background and gender. Feiyu shall replace Ralph Crosby, who resigned with effect on the date of this AGM. Ralph was a member of the Executive Committee of EADS from 2002 until 2012, as well as Chairman and CEO of EADS North America from 2002 to 2009. The company wishes to express its profound gratitude to Ralph Crosby for his valuable contribution to Airbus, in general, since 2002 and to the Board since his first appointment in 2013. Now I would like to give, Feiyu, the stage for a brief self-introduction. And I understand you want to come here in order to speak.

Thank you, René, for the kind introduction. Dear shareholders, good afternoon. It's a great honor and a big responsibility for me to join the Airbus Board, a commitment I embrace with enthusiasm. Artificial intelligence, AI, is in the air and the name of Airbus starts with AI. AI has evolved immensely in the last few years. And at the same time, aerospace manufacturing has evolved into a model turf for the Industry 4.0 paradigm. Airbus' adoption of AI reflects our leadership in intelligent aerospace manufacturing with applications spanning from product planning, business strategy, production, logistics, supply chain and sustainability. During my experience and the expertise in AI, particularly in the realm of intelligent transformation for industries, I see generative AI as a new paradigm of artificial intelligence. It will assume, enable corporate foundation models like ChatGPT, I guess, many of you heard about ChatGPT, perhaps many of you are using ChatGPT. But the corporate foundation model, the corporate language model, they will have more deeper competence in technologies, business processes and production processes. They will become the basis of many intelligent applications and use cases. As much as I love flying on airplanes, I love safe landings. Therefore, this mirrors my approach to AI in aerospace, a commitment not just to technology advancement but to safety, reliability, trustworthiness and sustainability. I'm looking forward to working with René, the whole Board and also the key stakeholders and the vision which fosters sustainable innovation and the [indiscernible] progress of AI. With my background in AI and intelligent transformation, I'm eager to contribute to the success of Airbus and to the future with innovative aerospace solutions. Thank you very much for your trust and support. [Foreign Language] This is the 2 language I speak in Europe. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Feiyu. With that, I would like to focus on our activities as Board and our committees in '23. The committees fully performed their duties and discussed all of the items within their respective remits in order to prepare all relevant topics before they are presented at the Board meetings. The Audit Committee, for example, met 6 times with an attendance rate of 93.3%. The Ethics, Compliance and Sustainability Committee met 4 times with an average attendance rate of 90% and the Remuneration, Nomination and Governance met 6 times with an attendance rate of almost 96%. In addition, an ad hoc Board committee meeting took place to address specific strategic topics. Nine Board meetings were held in '23. The average attendance rate at these meetings was 95.3%. In addition, as it is the case every year, the Board of Directors was informed in due time of any relevant developments through very informative reports from Guillaume in between meetings of the Board of Directors. Regular Non-Executive sessions took place at the end of the meetings of each Board of Directors. The main areas of work carried out by the Board of Directors are described in the report of our -- of the -- which is published on the 15th of February on our website. So it's a full report, which I would encourage you to read. I would like to provide you with several highlights of our Board activities in '23 now in more detail. One, a continual monitoring of geopolitical issues and developments, including the war in Ukraine, tensions between China and the United States or the Middle East conflict. These were at the heart of the Board's concerns and discussions, particularly on the impact of -- on the impact on Airbus. Second, extensive discussions took place on people and succession matters, which notably led to the proposed appointment of Feiyu Xu at this AGM but also on top executive development and succession. The Board worked very closely with management to optimize the leadership structure of the group by appointing a dedicated commercial aircraft leadership team, as I mentioned earlier, under the helm of Christian Scherer. Third, the Board continued to review and discuss the progress made towards the production ramp-up, key supply chain issues, the situation and availability of engines and the overall commercial aircraft business strategy. Fourth, on the defense and space side, the Board reviewed the financial situation of the division and its strategic orientations with regular updates on key programs, including the Future Combat Air System and Ariane 6. In addition, a special focus on improvement needs in the space business and a follow-up on the ongoing transformation launched in 2023. The Board reviewed the financial situation of the Helicopters division and discussed the progress made on major projects and on next-generation rotorcraft capabilities. ESG matters have been a topic of great attention for the Board, discussions throughout the year encompassed employees' health, safety and engagement, inclusion and diversity, including gender diversity, the growing environmental and climate challenges, the status of future aircraft and sustainable aircraft fuels, SAF, as well as environmental, social and governance topics. And in addition, we looked at the defense sector under the lens of ESG. All our ESG ambitions and all our targets will be monitored -- are already being monitored and will be monitored, driven and further developed by the creation of a dedicated Chief Sustainability Officer position and respective organization under the lead of Julie Kitcher. And I can assure you these matters are extremely important for all of us as a Board and the team does a fantastic job, and therefore, I'm very proud that Airbus is taking a pioneering role here with the help and cooperation with -- between the Board and Julie's organization. Seventh point. A deep dive into digital projects was performed by the Board including DDMS, as mentioned and updates on AI and cybersecurity. Eight. Safety, of course, is at the heart of everything that we do, which is why biannual reviews of product safety-related issues were performed. Updates on relevant developments were provided at quarterly meetings of the Board and in between Board meetings in line with our safety protocol. Ninth. Quarterly updates on the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, called ITAR, monitorship were provided, including a presentation by the ITAR Special Compliance Officer, Philippe Oudinot, on the development of the export control program within Airbus. The consent agreement was closed in October 2023 and all 3 deferred prosecution agreements in France, the U.K. and the United States, formally concluded in 2023, a very important milestone for us. Ten. The Board continued and will continue to pay close attention to the company's active engagement with its shareholders, so that Airbus' approach to governance, to compliance and to sustainability is well understood and it reflects yours, our shareholders' expectations to the extent possible and sensible. In 2023, in addition to the formal General Meeting, the Lead Independent Director; Amparo and myself, together with the Airbus team, we sought engagements with shareholders in order to understand your views and particularly on governance, remuneration and sustainability matters but also on performance subjects against the company's objectives. I would like to highlight that our company is incorporated in the Netherlands and applies the Dutch Corporate Governance Code. With that having said, I will move on to our remuneration policy. Based on the revised European Shareholder Rights Directive, the Board of Directors' remuneration policy is required to be approved by the shareholders, at least every 4 years. The remuneration policy was adopted by the 2020 AGM and therefore, needs to be submitted for approval this year. After a careful consideration and having taken investors' feedback into account, the Board has decided, as a sound governance practice, to align the timing for decision by the AGM on the changes to the remuneration policy with the CEO's new mandate. The renewal/appointment will be up for decision next year. And therefore, we submit the contemplated changes at the 2025 AGM. Those contemplated changes have been disclosed in our 2024 AGM documentation. The remuneration policy submitted to your approval at this AGM is therefore proposed unchanged. It only remains for me to express a big thank you to Guillaume for this intense, good, open cooperation and dialogue, to the entire management team of Airbus, to the ones being here but all the other ones who are not here today and to the entire Airbus team across the world for their continued dedication, the extremely hard work to deliver the company's objectives. On behalf of the Board, I would like to underline our support to the management team who continue to do an outstanding job in navigating the company through this increasingly complex and challenging business environment. And lastly, I would like to thank all of you, not only for coming here today or for watching this event's stream but also for your continued support and commitment to Airbus. Without you, we couldn't do this. So together, we shall thrive and we shall pursue our objectives. Thank you very much. Guillaume?

Thank you, René. Hello, everyone. Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Let me start by thanking you again for your continued support and your trust in our company. Let's begin with a look at the highlights of 2023. It's been a landmark year in terms of order intake across our businesses, notably as we reach new heights for commercial aircraft business and our Defense & Space division. We also saw global air traffic returning to pre-COVID levels. After traffic restrictions were lifted, short-haul flights bounced back very quickly and we now see, as anticipated, a sustained recovery for long-haul flights. However, we continue to operate in an environment that remain complex and as said by René, affected by geopolitical tensions and supply chain challenges. We are constantly assessing and targeting, what I call, the sweet spot, the sweet spot for the best balance between demand and the ability of our supply chain to deliver, while maintaining the highest standards on safety. Eventually, we delivered on our 2023 commitments and progressed on our production ramp-up as planned. And this is a significant achievement. These solid results and our confidence in our future financial performance supports our dividend proposal for 2023 of EUR 1.8 per share. The strong free cash flow generation, in particular, in the last quarter has brought our net cash above EUR 10 billion. This underpins our proposal of a special dividend of EUR 1 per share. Moving to commercial consideration and starting with our commercial aircraft business. 2023 marked the recovery of global air traffic and the return to profitability for the airline industry. We booked, as I said, a record level of 2,319 gross orders confirming our customers' trust and our positioning in the market. Net orders amounted to 2,094 commercial aircraft, taking our backlog to nearly 8,600 aircraft at the end of 2023. It's obviously a record high. On A220, we continue to ramp up towards a monthly production rate of 14 aircraft in 2026, while still working on the program's industrial maturity and the financial performance of the program. On the A320 family, we are making progress towards the rate of 75 aircraft per month targeted in 2026. The wide-body production continues to increase towards a monthly rate of 4 aircraft in 2024 for the A330. And we decided last November to ramp up the A350 monthly production rate to 10 aircraft a month in 2026. We are pleased with the recent announcements from Vietjet Air, Japan Airlines and Korean Air, underpinning the returning market for the widebodies. In Helicopters, we achieved a book-to-bill above 1, including significant contracts in our home countries. For Defense & Space, 2023 turned out to be a record year in terms of order intake, with key successes such as the Spain order for 16 C295, the contract for the French MRTTs and the A400M service contract for Germany. At group level, the backlog in value increased to EUR 554 billion in 2023, mainly reflecting our book-to-bill above 1 for all divisions, partly offset by the weakening of the U.S. dollar. Now on to our financial performance. Our full year 2023 revenues increased to EUR 65.4 billion, up plus 11% year-on-year, mainly reflecting the higher number of commercial aircraft deliveries. Our full year 2023 R&D increased to EUR 3.3 billion and our full year 2023 EBIT adjusted increased to EUR 5.8 billion. Let me start by reminding where we come from. 2022 included a net EUR 0.4 billion positive impact from several nonrecurring elements. This resulted from a positive effect from retirement obligations and from compliance-related topics, partly offset by the loss of Pléiades Neo satellites and international sanctions against Russia. In 2023, EBIT adjusted mainly reflects the higher commercial aircraft deliveries, a more favorable hedge rate and the solid performance of helicopters, partly offset by investments for preparing the future and charges in certain space programs. In 2023, charges of EUR 0.6 billion have indeed been recorded in certain space programs, accounting for revised time lines and cost estimates as well as for the reassessment of commercial risks and opportunities for those programs. The level of EBIT adjustments totaled a net negative EUR 1.2 billion, mainly reflecting dollar working capital mismatch and balance sheet revaluation, resulting from the mechanical impact arising from the difference between transaction date and delivery date. Our EPS adjusted was EUR 5.60 per share, using an average of 789 million shares and our EPS reported was plus EUR 4.80 per share. Our free cash flow before M&A and customer financing was EUR 4.4 billion, reflecting the strong commercial aircraft deliveries and the predelivery payments collection from commercial momentum, especially in the third -- in the fourth quarter and in December. Let's now look at our dividends. In December 2013, Airbus formalized a dividend policy demonstrating a strong commitment to shareholder returns. This policy targets sustainable growth in the dividend within a payout ratio of 30% to 40%. As mentioned by our Chairman, René, the Airbus Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting the payment for 2023 of a dividend per share of EUR 1.80 on the 18th of April 2024, corresponding to a payout ratio of 38%. In addition, the Airbus Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting, the payment of a special dividend of EUR 1 per share, again on the 18th of April 2024. These proposals are a reflection of the strong 2023 financials, our growth prospects in 2024 and balance sheet strength. Now let's have a look at how our share price progressed in 2023. We started the year in positive territory, supported by the solid 2022 financial results and the announcement of an increase in the targeted production rate for the wide-body aircraft. However, Airbus share price suffered together with global equity markets from the concerns around the stability of the banking sector. The acceleration of deliveries and order momentum through the second quarter supported the share price while global markets remain volatile as mixed economic data fueled uncertainty around inflation, interest rates and economic growth. In the third quarter, global markets declined due to concerns about the potential for higher for longer interest rates and revised economic growth perspectives. In this context, the Airbus share price was dragged down by uncertainty around the GTF Pratt & Whitney engine issues. In the fourth quarter, as we see on the slide, global equities were impacted by the escalating conflict in the Middle East and uncertainty around Central Bank's interest rate decisions. Towards the end of the quarter, equity markets recovered, lifted by easing inflation, some stabilization of U.S. monetary policy with no additional interest rate increases and further accommodative signaling from major central banks. Overall, in 2023, Airbus share price outperformed the CAC 40 and the DAX 40 as well as the broader aerospace and defense sector. In early 2024, this year, Airbus share price continued to increase to record levels in a positive environment that drove equity markets up and supported by the solid 2023 Airbus deliveries and results. Let me now remind you our 2024 guidance. And as the basis for its 2024 guidance, the company assumes no additional disruptions to the world economy, air traffic, the supply chain, the company's internal operations and its ability to deliver products and services. The company's 2024 guidance is before merger and acquisitions. On that basis, the company targets to achieve in 2024 around 800 commercial aircraft deliveries and EBIT adjusted between EUR 6.5 billion and EUR 7.5 billion and the free cash flow before customer financing of around EUR 4 billion. The guidance reflects our expected growth trajectory and the investments we are making to prepare our future and the future of aviation. And now a few words to wrap up and address our key priorities. As we progress in 2024, we are fully committed to serving our customers and the strong demand for our modern, fuel-efficient commercial aircraft and working closely with our global supply chain partners as we ramp up across all our programs with safety and quality at the heart of all that we do in a new organization setup, as René described earlier. To support our increasing production rates, we will continue to invest, modernize and adapt our global industrial system. We are operating in a rapidly changing world where geopolitical shifts, the acceleration in innovation and the importance of decarbonization are growing in focus and we are working to rise to the challenges and opportunities ahead in those areas. It comes with a need to transform our Defense & Space division. We have initiated a transformation in 2023, aiming at making our organization simpler, more agile and more customer oriented with more accountability and driving competitiveness. The new structure around 3 business lines: air power, space systems and connected intelligence gives the means for a clear end-to-end business ownership and accountability. This transformation targets excellence from bidding to delivery, to secure our future and the growth in the future. At the same time, we keep pushing forward on our ambitions in digitalization and decarbonization. Digitalization is indeed an important enabler for the success of our commercial aircraft ramp up and it will be fundamental to the design, manufacturing and operating of the next generation of our civil and military products, in particular through DDMS, Digital Design, Manufacturing & services. Therefore, digitalization is a key priority and we'll continue to explore strategic opportunities in this area, including AI. You may have seen that after careful consideration of all aspects of a potential acquisition of Atos' Big Data and Security, the BDS part of Atos, we decided to no longer pursue the discussion with Atos about this potential transaction. That being said, digitalization is and remains at the core of our strategy. Let me highlight here the recent agreement to acquire INFODAS to strengthen our cybersecurity portfolio. We expect to complete this transaction by the end of this year, subject to customary regulatory approvals. When it comes to our decarbonization road map, we have laid strong foundations and ambitions and we are now delivering concrete progress against defined action plans. Julie will come back to that in much more detail in a moment. We are acting as a catalyst, taking actions towards building a low-carbon future and bringing airlines and industry players from all sectors together in order to shape a sustainable aviation. We are and I am very committed to it. But before that, before Julie comes to sustainability, I will hand back the floor to you, René. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Guillaume, for your presentation. Before we listen to Nico Pul from EY, our external auditor for 2023, I would like to make the following statements in respect of the company's and EY's legal obligations. One, for the purpose of this AGM, the company has waived EY's obligations of confidentiality. Two, EY has the obligation to correct any material incorrect statements and/or announcements in relation to the 2023 financial statements or the independent auditor's report. And three, EY will present the audit process and procedures in relation to the financial statements before adopting the 2023 financial statements contained in the respective Board report. Nico the floor is yours.

Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Nico Pul. I'm representing Ernst & Young Accountants LLP. For fiscal year 2023 of Airbus SE, I have been the statutory auditor. Our audit and audit results are described in our independent auditors report issued at February 15, 2024. It is included in the 2023 annual report. I will present to you a high-level overview on the audit and audit results. This is common practice in the Netherlands. I will present to you briefly our audit plan including the materials used in our coverage, the key audit matters and our conclusions. The scopes as shown on this slide are unchanged when compared to last year. As mentioned on the previous slide, we are aware that the financial statements give a true and fair view. To assess the true and fair view, we applied a materiality level of EUR 290 million. This is 5% of EBIT adjusted. 5% is a common percentage and the same as in previous years. EBIT adjusted is a company-specific metric used by Airbus when presenting financial results. Of course, our audit procedures cover many more than only amounts exceeding EUR 292 million. The conclusion to reach is whether the financial statements give a true and fair view. We designed the aggregate of our scope and audit procedure as such that we have sufficient and appropriate basis for our conclusions. The reporting threshold to those charged with governance for audit differences, if any, was determined at EUR 50 million. We had 45 operating entities in scope. And these represented 95% of total consolidated revenues, 93% of total consolidated assets and 97% of total consolidated EBIT. Our audit procedures covered all adjustments to EBIT. For those entities which were not in scope, we performed, amongst others, analytical procedures. This was to corroborate our assessment that the group financial statements are free from material misstatement. We prepared our plan and presented it to the Audit Committee and the Board. We based the plan on our understanding of Airbus. We included the information gathered during the previous years and we considered the relevant factors in the environment Airbus operates in. In our audit, we have 4 specialists for various audit areas. These include specialists regarding IT, risk of fraud and corruption, treasury and hedge accounting, actuarial and taxes. Our specialists possess knowledge of the sector and independent too. They satisfy all relevant training requirements regarding their area of expertise and to be able to provide audit support. We considered the risk of material misstatement due to fraud. We paid specific attention to the following elements. The risk of management override regarding margin at completion and recoverability of program assets and the risk of fraud in revenue recognition. We paid specific attention to and reported specifically upon the so-called key audit matters. Key audit matters are those matters that, in our professional judgment, were of most significance in the audit of the financial statements. In comparison with previous years, the nature of the key audit matters did not change. We focused on key programs with respect to the following key audit matters: Revenue recognition, estimations related to the contract margin for the accounting of onerous contracts and recoverability of key program assets. We reviewed the underlying processes and controls that are used to account for the programs. We challenged management on the assumptions used. This included assessment of updates by management on the ramp-up of production rates, on future sales scenarios, on estimations of cost to fulfill contracts and on their impact on valuations and revenue recognition. And we looked at the historical accuracy of previous year's estimates. As part of our audit of the financial statements, we considered the impact of climate-related risks. We evaluated whether the possible effects of the energy transition are taken into account in estimates and significant assumptions. This is described in our key audit matter, recoverability of key program assets. The fourth key audit matter includes hedge accounting. We tested a highly probable assessment of future aircraft delivery as performed by the company. And we challenged key management assumptions pertaining to order cancellation, airline default and aircraft rescheduling risks. We read the report of the Board of Directors, which includes, amongst others, the ESG paragraph. We evaluated whether it's consistent with the information obtained when performing our procedures to audit the financial statements or otherwise. Based on our audit, we drew our conclusions. We conclude that the 2023 financial statements give a true and fair view of the financial position of Airbus as at December 31, 2023, of its results and its cash flows for 2023 in accordance with IFRS as adopted by the EU and with Part 9 of Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code. We have read the so-called other information included in the annual report. This includes the report of the Board of Directors. Based on our knowledge and understanding obtained through our audit of the financial statements or otherwise, we concluded that the other information is consistent with the 2023 financial statements and we did not identify any material misstatements. Thank you for your attention.

Thank you, Nico, for your presentation. I would like to give the word to Guillaume to clarify on one -- on his previous presentation, something.

Yes. Thank you, René. Apparently, in my presentation, I made a mistake reading the 2024 guidance. We have not changed the guidance. And for the EBIT adjusted, it reads EBIT adjusted between EUR 6.5 billion and EUR 7 billion. Apparently, I made a mistake on the second one. So I would like to apologize and just repeat. EBIT adjusted between EUR 6.5 billion and EUR 7 billion. Thank you, Thomas, for being -- listening to me.

We will now continue the agenda with the next item, which is related to providing a report on the progress made with regards to the company's journey leading clean aerospace. And this topic will be presented by Julie Kitcher, our Chief Sustainability Officer and Communications. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Hello, everybody. It's a great pleasure to be here to talk to you today about Airbus' sustainability journey at the AGM, which is actually my 100th day as Chief Sustainability Officer for the company. So we are and always have been a company driven by innovation, known for pioneering new technologies that have redefined the aerospace industry. And what we also do as a company is essentially bring people and cultures together, which helps to create value and drive social and economic growth. That's our purpose. It's our North Star, if you like and it sits above our company strategy to guide us. Sustainability is firmly embedded in our corporate strategy and it's at the core of what we do. To make it easy for people to relate to, we break it down into 3 key themes: valuing people, enabling prosperity and protecting the planet. These are interconnected and equally important and we can't achieve one without the other. So valuing people. This is really all about our deep awareness of the responsibility we have to society and to future generations. We're driving a safety and business integrity culture and we're creating an inclusive workspace. We're committed to respecting human rights throughout our value chain. And of course, this brings us directly to our defense business because there is no sustainability without security. We're taking global action to support communities and in particular, on the most vulnerable, the environment and young people. Enabling prosperity. Let us be really clear. You cannot have sustainability without prosperity. So we're committed to being a profitable and competitive company that meets our customer expectations and one that has the financial strength to invest in the future. This requires strong governance that prioritizes safety, quality, integrity and compliance, and of course, security; and respecting the planet. This is centered in our commitment to lead the journey towards decarbonized aerospace. So how do we make it happen? Well, we've committed to near-term climate targets that sets us on a clear path to decarbonize. These targets were validated by the independent organization, SBTi, the Science Based Targets initiative, which is acknowledged as the gold standard in CO2 target-setting methodology. And the products coming off our production lines today are already significantly contributing to our climate targets, reducing CO2 emissions by around 25% when replacing previous generation aircraft. We're improving the environmental performance of our operations and are developing a circular model across our value chain to optimize the use of resources. We help to monitor and manage global threats such as deforestation, biodiversity loss, wildfires and rising sea levels and we're striving to bring a hydrogen-powered aircraft to market by 2035. And I'll tell you more about the decarbonization efforts that we're making in the next minutes. So if we look at 2023 and the progress that we made on our sustainability journey, well, it was another year of progress in our decarbonization journey from ambition to action. We received validation from SBTi. I just mentioned it, for our near-term climate targets and we're reducing CO2 emissions in line with that trajectory. In parallel, we fulfilled our pledge of using 10% sustainable aviation fuel, which is actually more than 11 million liters of neat SAF, doubling our 2022 usage in our internal aircraft and helicopter flight operations last year, which includes our delivery flights and we're on the way to using at least 30% by 2030. We continued our efforts to drive SAF deployment illustrated by commercial demonstration flights, as well as partnerships with sustainable aviation fuel producers. Now more than 40 airlines have committed to ensure sustainable aviation fuel supply to at least 10% of their fuel needs by 2030. So we're making progress. It's slow but the industry is moving in the right direction. For ZEROe, we continue to -- that's our hydrogen concept aircraft, we're continuing to explore propulsion solutions, which support both fuel cell and direct hydrogen burn options and the fuel cell results are very promising. At the same time, we're working on a number of technology bricks that could be applied to new aircraft, both for the next-generation single aisle aircraft towards the end of next decade, as well as our hydrogen-powered aircraft. If we look at our ZEROe concept aircrafts, those teams achieve the power on in 2023 of what we call the iron pod, a representative test model of the hydrogen propulsion, which may be used on a ZEROe concept, such as the one you can see on the screen, hopefully. As well as the hydrogen fuel cell system, the iron pod contains the electric motors needed to spin a propeller and the units that control and keep them cool. Its successful power on at 1.2 megawatts is an important step on our road map to put a hydrogen propulsion aircraft into service by 2035 and we'll continue to mature this key technology brick and others throughout 2024. If we could put the 2023 highlight slide on the screen, that would be useful. Thank you. These initiatives, amongst others, underline our commitment to take action towards building a low-carbon future and to bringing airlines and industry players from all sectors together in order to shape the future of aviation. So we've established a strong momentum on sustainability and we'll continue to play our catalyst role in 2024 and focus as well on advocacy. And while we're waiting for the slide, a word on our ESG rating. Overall, Airbus has progressed in its score and ranking supported by progress in both our sustainability performance itself and our method of disclosure. Last year's improvement in Moody's ESG solutions, for example, led to Airbus being part of the CAC 40 ESG Index this year, our CSA S&P score has opened the door to Dow Jones Europe Sustainability Index and Airbus was also attributed by ISS, the prime status granted to industry leaders. So let's take a closer look at some of the numbers. Next slide, please. This is our carbon footprint and we're engaging the whole value chain. So first and foremost, aviation represents 88 million jobs globally and created $3.5 trillion of global GDP. Ladies and gentlemen, that's more than 4% of global GDP last year. We recognize that aviation emits CO2 and we're committed to solving it. The biggest impact on the environment that our products and services have relates to greenhouse gases and mainly CO2 equivalent, especially as its effects are cumulative. They're categorized into 3 scopes: Scope 1 and 2, that's the emissions related to our own activities. And actually, we're also monitoring and targeting water and waste reduction. And Scope 3 includes all the other CO2 emissions from products and services in our value chain. So this chart is showing our emissions in 2023. And you see that 600,000 tons of CO2 was emitted by our operations. About 474 million tons arose from our Scope 3, of which 10 million tons came from upstream Scope 3 suppliers and 464 million tons arose from the use of our sold products and services. So that is really a collective achievement and we're really aligning our approach to be able to reduce substantially. So for Scope 1 and Scope 2, let's dig into a little bit more detail here. We're pursuing a comprehensive action plan covering our production sites. So that's around 60% of our footprint as well as our transport and other mobile activities, which represent 40% and we've set a reduction target of 63% by 2030 off a 2015 baseline. To give you some examples of what we're doing, we're accelerating our ambition to secure at least 90% of direct supply of renewable and low-carbon electricity for all our Airbus sites in Europe before 2030. And in 2023, PPAs were contracted, for instance, in Spain, covering 40% of purchased electricity and in China, well advanced in the U.K. and initiated 2 in France and Germany. And we've also introduced biomass instead of steam for heating and lighting and also LED for outdoor lighting systems at several sites including in Hamburg and in Broughton and all these generate sizable reductions in our energy consumption. And on mobile sources, the emissions mostly come from our flight test and our Beluga operations. So we're increasing the use of sustainable aviation fuel in our operations so that it represents at least 30% by 2030. And we began using SAF on our Beluga flights in 2019 and in our flight test operations in 2022. And we now have the capability to use SAF across our production lines in delivery centers in the U.S., Germany, France, U.K. and in China. At the same time, we're working to reduce the environmental impact of our maritime operations. And in October last year, we secured the renewal of our fleet of chartered vessels that transport subassemblies between Europe and the U.S. with 3 modern vessels supported by wind-assisted propulsion. And that new fleet, which is targeted to enter into service from 2026 is expected to reduce average annual transatlantic CO2 emissions from 68,000 to 33,000 tons by 2030. So with regards to our SBTi commitment. In 2023, we recorded a total reduction of 42% versus that 2015 baseline, bringing us on track to deliver on our commitment in 2030. Now if we look at Scope 3, we're committed to a near-term target of reducing our Scope 3 emissions of delivered aircraft by 46% in efficiency. That means grams of CO2 per kilometer per [indiscernible]. This covers the emissions from all our commercial aircraft that will be delivered to our customers in 2035 compared with 2015. And in 2023, we recorded a reduction of 29% versus that 2015 baseline, thanks mainly to the delivery of latest generation aircraft and sustainable aviation fuel deployment. Of course, we need to accelerate rapidly to meet that 46% target. So significant investments in research and development will be needed in the coming decade throughout the sector. This is really a collective target. So we need the whole aviation ecosystem, including engine makers, energy suppliers, regulators and others to drive action to meet net zero in 2050. So how will we get there? We believe decarbonization requires a multitude of solutions, including renewing fleets with latest generation aircraft, improving operations and infrastructure, the use of sustainable aviation fuel, disruptive technologies such as hydrogen and market-based measures, which are going to make -- play a relevant role in the short term. So let's focus now on aircraft and sustainable aviation fuel. When it comes to decarbonization, actually, some of the solutions are already available to us today. Only 30% of the world's fleet flying is flying on latest generation technology. That means around 70% of current airline fleets have the potential with fleet replacement to reduce their CO2 footprint by 25% when they take delivery of new aircraft. At the same time, our engine manufacturers are working to improve the efficiency of engines. We're looking at very disruptive engines too, such as the open fan and it's what we're doing with CFM and their RISE engine. The wings are also responsible for significant savings. And here again, we have several projects to further improve the in-flight performance and manufacturing efficiency. For example, the Wing of Tomorrow, we ambition to make wings lighter using composites. We're also looking at making them more efficient with foldable wing tips and most of all, we're rethinking the wing itself, in terms of its design to make them easier to assemble. We're also looking at a so-called eXtra Performance Wing, which shape is evolving during the flight. And this could be particularly useful for an aircraft whose wings don't need to transport fuel. Last but not least, the hybridization of the aircraft propulsion systems will be one of the enablers and technologies to reduce the fuel consumption of our products and optimize overall engine efficiency. I already talked about sustainable aviation fuel at the beginning but actually, it's important to note, if you go to the next slide, please, that sustainable aviation fuel can reduce CO2 emissions by 80% and on average across the life cycle. It could be even higher than that when using Power-to-Liquid, a synthetic sustainable aviation fuel made out of carbon and hydrogen. So we are working to make our aircraft capable of flying with up to 100% sustainable aviation fuel before the end of the decade. Today, they can already fly with a mix of 50% sustainable aviation fuel. The issue we're facing is that we don't have availability at scale and at the right price. And so here, we really believe all we're doing to implement sustainable aviation fuel into our operations is helping to prime the pump in terms of availability. The majority of the emission reductions needed for the sector to reach net zero are expected to come from these fuels. So there's a huge role for SAF to play and it won't go away either when hydrogen becomes a reality. Ladies and gentlemen, it's SAF and hydrogen. And let me explain why in 3 steps. So first, already the aircraft we are delivering today are capable of flying with 50% sustainable aviation fuel. Our engineers are also examining the possibility of a new short to medium range aircraft that would provide another step forward in fuel efficiency towards the end of the 2030s. And those aircraft will be even more efficient on the energy side and will be capable of flying up to 100% sustainable aviation fuel. And lastly, we see the entry into the market of disruptive technologies such as hydrogen, which will fuel the first low emissions commercial airliner in 2035. We need partnerships to get there. So we've set ourselves, at Airbus, the ambition to build up the SAF volumes needed to meet the net zero target and position ourselves as a catalyst, the world over. Our ambition is to drive up to 10% SAF uptake at a global level by 2030. Last year, we were well below 1%. This means we're working today across industries to innovate and drive research with industrial partners and research institutions, develop technical solutions with industry stakeholders, airlines, airports, energy providers. We're looking to build infrastructure and stimulate local SAF production. And we're working to define a framework to promote a level playing field, engaging with industry, associations and institutional bodies to ensure the relevant policy support will be implemented for aviation. So we're collaborating and partnering with regulators, with customers, with producers, with suppliers. And to prepare the future, we're researching, testing and gathering data on alternative fuels, providing our analysis to few working groups around the globe in order to prepare and coordinate the industry's efforts for 100% SAF use as a certified aviation fuel. And as we look for hydrogen, on the next slide, here as well, it's really about partnership. This journey is going to require unprecedented collaboration and cooperation to meet net zero 2050 and we believe that hydrogen is the most promising way to decarbonize aviation. We can see a growing number of airlines and key stakeholders getting involved. I mentioned that it's SAF and hydrogen and it will be absolutely key to have both to decarbonize the industry. In 2023, in Asia Pacific, we created a first, so a hydrogen hub at airport solution on a country scale in New Zealand. This consortium already delivered its first report, which highlights that hydrogen-powered aviation has the potential for up to 900,000 tons of carbon emissions to be avoided every year by 2050, through the use of liquid hydrogen fueled aircraft. This network is also spreading in Europe, where we launched a new hydrogen hub in Germany and more recently in Norway and Sweden, where we gathered for the first time in one go more than 40 airports to conduct our hydrogen infrastructure studies. And in 2024, we'll continue to expand this network in Europe and North America. On the R&D and technology side, we are also partnering with the best industrial partners, research and development centers and universities and we have strong support from many industrial partners. ArianeGroup, for example, is supporting us on hydrogen management for ground operations with their 40 years of experience in using hydrogen in rocket launch vehicles. CFM is a key partner for developing technology bricks for hydrogen direct combustion engines. And ElringKlinger through the joint venture, Aerostack, is providing us full support to develop fuel cell, thanks to its 20 years of research and development. And more recently, in September 2023, we established a Hydrogen in Aviation alliance with a number of partners, including easyJet, Rolls-Royce, Airbus, Ørsted, GKN Aerospace and Bristol Airport. This alliance works to ensure the U.K. capitalizes on the huge opportunity hydrogen presents to both the aviation industry and the country as a whole. So to conclude, Airbus engages with the entire ecosystem to make the decarbonization of the industry possible and we focus our innovation and portfolio on projects towards these targets. 2030, 2035, 2050, they're key milestones ahead of us and we're acting now. And in aviation terms, with the product life cycle as long as it is, 2030 is tomorrow, 2050 is the day after tomorrow. So the time to act really is now. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you very much, Julie, for this comprehensive and precise overview on facts and figures on the situation, on our way forward and our clear commitments. Totally agree with what you said. The time is now. This concludes the presentations and we will now proceed with the Q&A session.