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EADS NV is a Dutch company specialized in aerospace, defense and related services. The Company is organized into five divisions: Airbus division, that develops, manufactures, markets and sells commercial jet aircraft; Military Transport Aircraft division, which manufactures and commercializes special mission aircraft for military use; Astrium division, focused on development and manufacturing, marketing and sale of satellites, orbital infrastructures and launcher systems as well as related services; Eurocopter division, specialized in the field of civil and military helicopters, and Defense and Security division, which provides integrated solutions for the armed forces and global security, including missile systems, combat aircraft, defense electronics, military communications and homeland security, among others. EADS NV is present worldwide and operates via its subsidiaries, such as Airbus Holding SA, Aviateur Aerospace Ltd, Airbus Military SL, Eurocopter Canada Ltd, Apsys and others.

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Commercial

Airbus has revved up A320 production to record levels of 32 aircraft per month. This is expected to rise to 36 per month in 2008 and eventually to 40 per month in 2009 with the openning of a plant in China. While margins are thin with this aircraft, Airbus hopes to generate a strong cash flow through high volume sales, with 2019 order backlog. This is greatly needed for Airbus to fund new projects, but comes with the risk of a meltdown resulting from the high stress placed on the production process.

Financial information

As of 3 July 2007 41.63% of EADS stock is publicly traded on six European stock exchanges, while the remaining 58.37% is owned by a "Contractural Partnership".The latter is owned by SOGEADE (27.38%), Daimler AG (22.41%), SEPI (5.46%) and Dubai Holding (3.12%).SOGEADE is owned by the French State and Lagardère, while SEPI is a Spanish state holding company. France also owns 0.06% of publicly traded stock.

In October 2005 the British Ministry of Defence warned European politicians to stop, as it sees it, interfering in the corporate governance of EADS. The UK Defence Procurement Minister Lord Drayson has hinted that the UK government, a major customer for EADS, may withhold future contracts. "As a key customer, we see it as important for EADS to move in a direction that is free from political interference."

On 4 April 2006, DaimlerChrysler announced its intention to reduce its shareholding from 30% to 22.5%. The company places a value of the stake at "approximately €2.0 billion." Lagardère will reduce its holding by an identical amount. However, Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, a unit of the French government, acquired 2.25% of EADS. At issue as a result is the fact that the German and French shareholdings are now in imbalance.

On 30 August 2006, shortly after the stock price decline caused by the A380 delivery delays, more than 5% of EADS stock has been reportedly purchased by the Russian state-owned Vneshtorgbank. Now its share is nearly 6%. In December 2007, Vneshtorgbank sold EADS shares to another state-controlled bank Vneshekonombank. EADS sharers are to be delivered by Vneshekonombank to the charter capital of JSC "United Aircraft Corporation" in 2008.

On 3 October 2006, shortly after EADS admitted further delays in the Airbus 380 program would cost the company 4.8 billion euros in lost earnings in 2010, EADS shares, traded on the Paris arm of Euronext, were suspended after they surpassed the 10 per cent loss limit. Trading resumed later in the day with the one day loss holding at 7 per cent.

Prologis (NYSE:PLD) is the world's largest industrial REIT, with 512.2 M sq ft of rentable property--more than double the square footage of its nearest competitor, ING. The company owns and manages interests in more than 2,669 distribution facilities, service offices, and other properties, spanning about 483 M sq ft in 105 markets including North America (72% of PLD's total property square footage as of September 2007), Europe (19%), and Asia/Pacific (8%).

Unlike many REITs who distribute 90% of their taxable income as dividends and thus need to raise additional capital for real estate development from equity markets, Prologis has a number of property funds that generate capital the company then uses for new development. These property funds are real estate mutual funds which Prologis has set up with institutional investors; Prologis contributes real estate properties it has developed to the funds and acts a managing partner as well as minority owner. This practice brings Prologis revenue from the development of real estate, rental revenues through the mutual funds, and property fund management fees--none of which are subject to the REIT 90% redistribution rule. Since Prologis can usually count on its property funds to purchase its properties, the property fund system also reduces the companies' exposure to general market conditions, where a temporarily weak market or lack of buyers would cause a new development to sell for less. However, Prologis has not gone untouched in the 2007-8 weakening of the US credit and real estate markets. PLD has 10 B USD in debt (debt/equity ratio 1.42); however, the company is actually relatively well-situated for its traditionally high-debt REIT industry; close competitors AMB Property (AMB) and First Industrial Realty Trust (FR) all have higher debt-to-equity ratios.

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