Areva 2011 Revenue Declines 2.6%

By Joel ScanlonJan 30 2012

Areva, the French nuclear group, saw a dip of 2.6% in its sales in the last year. The mining unit of the group managed to soften the blow that the company felt in the aftermath of the nuclear disaster in Fukushima in Japan in 2011.

Areva’s core business is making nuclear reactors and it is the largest company in the world to do so. Unfortunately the current climate is unsuitable for good growth in the sector. The company is now in the process of restructuring itself in the nuclear reactor business.

Luc Oursel the new chief executive officer of Areva outlines a plan that involved a turnaround for the company. He replaced Anne Lauvergeon in July last year when she lost the support of the French government. Areva is owned 75% by the French government which hopes to salvage the group from its nuclear disaster. The plan for this includes shutting down some projects, massive layoffs in Germany and a hiring freeze in France. The company hopes to shut down all its nuclear plants by 2022.

The chief executive officer also warned that despite all these measure the company will still be posting an operating loss of $1.8 billion to $2.1 billion for 2011. The revenue generated for Areva in 2011 was $11.66 billion. Reactors and related services unit saw its revenues drop despite being the largest division of the company.