Airbus warns on US filings

Airbus said it had uncovered inaccuracies in its filings to US regulators over arms technology sales, drawing the US for the first time into a scandal over alleged misconduct at Europe’s largest aerospace firm.

It also warned about potentially significant fines resulting from existing bribery investigations in Britain and France over the use of middlemen in civil airplane sales, which have triggered a sweeping internal probe.

But it said it was too early to guess the size or timing of any European penalties, or the outcome of the new US findings. Shares in the defence and civil aviation group rose more than 4% after it posted a smaller than expected drop in third-quarter profits despite jetliner delivery delays.