Thales, the ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher who gives
his name to the old Thomson-CSF empire, was very fond of the skies.
So much so, according to a story told by Plato, that a stargazing
Thales one night fell into a ditch on his way home.
A servant girl pulled him out and says, "How do you expect
to understand what is going on up in the sky if you do not even
see what is at your feet?''
Which is most appropriate when one looks at Thales -- the company
-- and its involvement in ground and air satellite-based navigation,
air traffic control, collision avoidance and avionics -- all, as
it were, to help one see in the dark.
"The name change has been received very well" since implemented
last December, Francois Lureau, executive VP and CEO of Thales Aerospace
commercial business told Show News. "Thomson-CSF was known
as a defense company, and a French one at that. The name no longer
described what we do, or who we are.
"Acquisitions over the years had resulted in more than 200
different names within Thomson-CSF, and 80% of our people were not
here ten years ago, so the old name meant nothing to them."
Hence the change, to reflect an international aerospace and electronics
company, evenly split between defense and commercial.
Thales, Europe's biggest defense electronics manufacturer, has three
businesses-aerospace, defense, and information technology and services.
Lureau's aerospace group (which includes the former Sextant avionics)
made up 18% of the business last year with revenues of 1.5 billion
euros, while taking in nearly 1.7 billion euros in new orders. Profits
came in at 83 million euros.
"We are the only company in the world to cover all three aspects
critical to air transportation, safety and secure communications
(plus air traffic management, avionics, training and simulation)"
he says. Critical only for passenger comfort is Thales inflight
entertainment business.
Lureau plans to drive growth at 10% a year across all these businesses
through acquisitions, joint ventures and partnerships as well as
increased sales, on both sides of the Atlantic.
Sales today are 56% in Europe, and 21% and growing in North America.
Biggest customers are Airbus and Bombardier for avionics (including
integrated flight control systems) and Boeing for inflight entertainment
systems, which is not surprising when one recalls this is the Sextant
Inflight Systems company formed through the acquisition of that
activity from B/E Aerospace.
Sextant found it difficult to penetrate Boeing, and now, as Thales,
Lureau expects the situation to change only slowly.
"Increasing our presence there is not a prime concern,"
he says. "What we are stressing instead to our existing customers
is that when we offer something we deliver on time, on target, and
on spec.
"It is a very pragmatic approach-I am not going to commit the
resources of the company if I cannot be 100% sure of the ability
to deliver. We don't want to lose customers. We have to show the
ones we've go that we are not stretching a bit too much."
By John Morris
PUBLICATIONS
