Investing.com – Opening sprint for Leonardo (BIT:) on . At 9.20 am the shares of the Italian defense giant rose by 3.26% compared to 21.46 euros per share the day before and then slowed down in the following minutes.
The shares were triggered at the start of the session by the accounts revealed yesterday with the stock exchanges closed by the company which, for the purpose of an objective comparison, provided the data for the first quarter of 2024 also in the “pro forma” version, including the contribution of the Telespazio group , fully consolidated starting from 1 January 2024.
Leonardo’s first 3 months of 2024
In the first three months of 2024, orders recorded an increase of 18.2% (+14.9% compared to the proforma March 2023 figure), driven in particular by the European component of the defense and security electronics business.
Now the company led by CEO Roberto Cingolani has 43.153 billion euros of orders in its portfolio which ensure coverage in terms of production for more than 2.5 years.
At the same time, revenues are growing by 20.8% (+15.3% compared to the proforma figure), thanks mainly to the performance of defense and security electronics and helicopters.
The growth in revenues is accompanied by an increase in Ebit of 73.3% (+67% compared to the proforma figure), bringing the ROS for the period to 5% (3.5% as of 31 March 2023).
The free operating cash flow for the period also improved by 9.7% (11.5% compared to the proforma figure). The cash flow trend determines a consequent positive impact on the group’s net debt, down by approximately 21% compared to the comparison period, also including the effect of the monetization of the investment in Leonardo DRS.
Guidance 2024 confirmed
“We are fully focused on executing the Business Plan. The consolidation of the defense core business is progressing very well thanks to the acceleration of the digitalisation process which creates new opportunities in terms of revenues and generates cost efficiencies; we are incorporating Artificial Intelligence and the Digital Twin into all product catalogs and working on the digital continuum of the Armed Forces”, commented Roberto Cingolani, CEO and general manager of Leonardo.
“Future activities are strengthened by the reorganization and Governance changes that have allowed the creation of the new Space Division, the acceleration of activities in Cyber Security and the development of a strategy that leverages Generative Artificial Intelligence and multi-domain capabilities to all Leonardo platforms. The efficiency plan is fully operational and in line with achieving the target expected at the end of the year. Finally, regarding the inorganic growth of the Plan, we are continuing to strengthen international alliances by taking an active role in promoting European Defense. All this will allow us to achieve strong growth, greater profitability and better conversion of EBITA into cash”, concluded Cingolani.
In consideration of the results obtained between January and March and the expectations for the subsequent ones, Leonardo has confirmed the guidance for the whole of 2024, the year in which the company expects to reach approximately 19.5 billion in orders and revenues of 16.8 billion of Euro.
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