PARIS March 10 (AFP) – European aerospace giant EADS said it plunged into the red last year as it put aside big provisions to cover cost overruns on its A400M military transport project and A380 superjumbo jet. The group posted a 2009 net loss of 763 million euros ($1.04 billion) after making a net profit of 1.57 billion euros the previous year.

EADS was hit by a 1.8-billion-euro provision for the much-delayed A400M, but the company struck a deal with seven NATO clients on Friday to share the burden of the complex project's unexpected expenses. ''Thanks to the agreement between the Customer Nations and EADS this program is now back on track,'' EADS chief executive Louis Gallois said in a statement.

''Although the group has to take an additional significant provision, this stabilizes the program,'' he said. ''Apart from the A400M, we remain fully focused on improved program management including further rampup of the A380, the development of the A350 and the Saudi Border Surveillance program.''

The company also took a 240-million-euro charge last year because of difficulties stepping up production of the A380 double-deck airliner. EADS said it would not pay a dividend to shareholders for 2009 owing to the losses.

EADS released its results just hours after it bowed out of a joint bid with US partner Northrop Grumman to build an aerial refueling tanker plane for the US Air Force. US rival Boeing was poised to win the 35-billion-dollar contract after EADS pulled out of the bidding. EADS was cautious in its outlook for 2010.

The group said it expects ''roughly stable'' sales this year after a turnover of 42.8 billion euros in 2009. It also forecast earnings before interest and tax of one billion euros after an EBIT loss of 322 million euros last year.

''As EADS enters into 2010, the group remains fundamentally solid to cope with the improving but still volatile economic environment,'' the company said in its earnings statement. The company said it expects to receive gross orders for between 250 and 300 aircraft in 2010.

It said it would deliver at most the same number of planes as in 2009, when it delivered a record 498 aircraft to airlines.

Before reaching a deal with client nations on the troubled A400M project, EADS had warned that the program could threaten the future of the company.

The entire project, which was meant to show Europe's independence from US defense suppliers and employs 10,000 people, had been under threat, after years of delays led several countries to question its viability.