Leonardo: positive and effective management in response to the pandemic. Solid first nine months results, Orders at € 8.5 billion and Revenues at € 9 billion in line with 2019, supported globally by Aircrafts, Helicopters, Electronics Europe and Leonardo DRS, businesses which had a positive EBITA performance. Strong financial position. Progress towards 2020 Guidance and strong confidence in business fundamentals

Rome 05 November 2020 18:38

Results at 30 September 2020

Successfully and effectively reacting to short term challenges with very good results in the current macro environment

• Strong commercial results
• Steady quarter by quarter recovery operationally
• EBITA supported by Aircrafts, Helicopters, Electronics Europe and Leonardo DRS performance
• Solid financial position with no need for refinancing nor extraordinary financial transactions

Solid performance with some impact on FOCF due to COVID-19

• Order intake of € 8.5 billion, flat YoY
• Stable Revenues at € 9 billion
• EBITA at € 497 million, as expected, materially improving quarter by quarter thanks to cost control actions put in place, -28% YoY due to COVID-19 and JV's performance
• FOCF € -2.6 billion, due to both the usual seasonality and negative effects of COVID-19 leading to a significant expected increase in working capital, with a consequent cash absorption due to the shift of cash-ins towards the end of the year due to the postponement of the milestones of activity and delivery of civil machines

Progress towards FY 2020 Guidance

• Orders supported by domestic and international commercial campaigns being finalised
• Revenues supported by solid order backlog and steady progress on programmes
• EBITA supported by productivity recovery and military/governmental and Customer Support & Training across the Group
• Actions aimed at costs control and helping offsetting risks on JV's performance and challenges of Civil business
• Fully focused towards FOCF target achievement
• Detailed actions plan aimed at achieving FOCF target
• Concentration of activities and timing of cash-ins in the last 2 months of the year potentially affected by slowdowns related to further COVID-19 restrictions

Strong confidence in our core business fundamentals and well positioned for the medium-long term

• Significant backlog of € 35 billion
• Military, civil and Customer Support and Training business mix is real strength
• Defence and Security market is growing
• Strong relationships with domestic markets
• Investments in innovation aimed at enhancing skills and product portfolio for the expansion of business opportunities
• Anchored in key international programmes
• Leadership position in key market segments: very high quality products in strong demand and growing Customer Support and Training activities

Leonardo's Board of Directors, convened today under the Chairmanship of Luciano Carta, examined and unanimously approved the results at 30 September 2020.

Alessandro Profumo, Leonardo CEO, stated 'The first nine months results show that we have been promptly responding to 2020 short term challenges, reacting effectively to changing market dynamics. We have taken actions to become more resilient and agile: we have cut costs, prioritised our investment activity without delays on the programmes, reoriented orders from export to domestic receiving strong support from domestic customers, reconfigured production lines to address COVID-19 restrictions, we have quickly and effectively implemented the so-called smart working, continuing our operations and right-sizing areas of our business in line with demand. We have a solid financial position, strengthened even more by the signing of additional credit facilities in May and the refinancing of 2021 bond: therefore, we have no need to raise capital nor further refinancing debt. We are achieving a steady quarter by quarter recovery operationally. We have strong confidence in our core business strengths and fundamentals in a growing market and we are well positioned for sustainable development in the medium-long term, also providing support to Italy. Our confidence is underpinned by our business mix, our solid order backlog, our core customer relationships, our leadership position in key market segments with high quality products and services, our key role in major international programmes and our innovative drive aimed at identifying new business opportunities'.

The results recorded in the first nine months of 2020 confirm the Group's resilience already highlighted in the half-year financial report. This is in a context without precedent, with a commercial performance that confirms the same levels as in the last year benefitting from orders in the government/military sphere from national clients against certain postponements of the export campaigns and the drop in the civil sector demand.
Revenue volumes are essentially in line with those of the first nine months of 2019, supported by a solid Backlog and the growth of the EFA Kuwait programme and of Leonardo DRS, which have been able to offset the slowdowns caused by the pandemic.
The industrial performance, despite being affected by the impact of COVID-19, confirm the efficacy of initiatives implemented to guarantee the steady full recovery of business operations. The profitability is affected also by a lower contribution from the JVs and a mix of activities characterised by programmes under development or in which the Group operates as a prime contractor, with profitability below the average but which are essential to the current and future positioning of the Group's products and technologies.
The cash flows were affected by the shift of cash-ins towards the end of the year due to the postponement of the milestones of activity and delivery of machines as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which entailed an increase in working capital with a consequent cash absorption.

Key Performance Indicators

^(*) EBITDA this is EBITA before amortisation, depreciation (net of those relating to goodwill or classified among 'non-recurring costs') and adjustments impairment.

^(**) EBITA is obtained by eliminating from EBIT the following items: any impairment in goodwill; amortisation and impairment, if any, of the portion of the purchase price allocated to intangible assets as part of business combinations, restructuring costs that are a part of defined and significant plans; other exceptional costs or income, i.e. connected to particularly significant events that are not related to the ordinary performance of the business.

^(***) EBIT is obtained by adding to earnings before financial income and expense and taxes and taxes the Group's share of profit in the results of its strategic Joint Ventures (GIE-ATR, MBDA, Thales Alenia Space and Telespazio).

^(****) Include acquisition of Kopter Group AG in April with an impact of € 198 mln on the Net Financial Position, increase in new leases for € 153 mln, payment of a dividend of € 81 mln in May and acquisition of an additional amount of Avio shares in June for € 14 mln.

Press release (PDF, 1166 KB)