Leonardo: Nine months New Order intake up 20%, in constant currency, thanks to NH90 Qatar contract

FY 2018 Guidance, revised upwards in July, confirmed. Fully focused on executing the Industrial Plan

• First nine months results in line with expectations
• New order intake at € 9.4 billion (+20% in constant currency), thanks to NH90 Qatar contract
• Revenues at € 8.2 billion, +4%, in constant currency 
• EBITA at € 632 million and Profitability (RoS) at 7.7%
• Group Net Debt at € 3.5 billion
• FOCF amounted to negative € 800 million (€ -972 million in first nine months 2017)

 
2018 Guidance, as revised upwards in July, confirmed
 

• Steps forward executing the Industrial Plan
• Significant commercial achievements: NH90 Helicopter contract booked and MH-139 Helicopter selected by U.S. Air Force
• Group long-term sustainable growth supported by solid order portfolio balanced across all businesses, long-term programs and additional «soft backlog»
• Helicopter performance in line with expectations, with 113 deliveries at 30 September 2018, higher vs 99 deliveries at September 2017
• Leonardo DRS growth benefitting from U.S. market
• Focus on cost control
• Early retirement agreement signed, allowing a generational and competence mix change
• Leonardo joined the UN Global Compact and confirmed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices

New Chairman of the Board of Statutory Auditors

The Board of Directors of Leonardo, convened today under the chairmanship of Gianni De Gennaro, has examined and unanimously approved the results at 30 September 2018 and the results of third quarter 2018.
 
Alessandro Profumo, CEO of Leonardo, commented: “The first nine months 2018 results are in line with our expectations. We’ve delivered important commercial achievements in Qatar, U.S. and China. This positive commercial momentum, plus the performance of our core Group businesses, recovery in Helicopters, Leonardo DRS increase and strict cost control, all make us confident of Leonardo’s long-term sustainable growth in line with all targets of the Industrial Plan”.
 
 In more detail, the first 9 months 2018 results show:

• New Orders: amounting to EUR 9,390 million, showed an increase of 18.2% compared with the first nine months of 2017 (EUR 7,945 million) mainly thanks to the acquisition of the new NH90 order in Qatar worth EUR 3 billion.
• Orders backlog: amounted to EUR 34,501 million, an increase of 1.4% compared with the first nine months of 2017.
• Revenues: amounted to EUR 8,240 million, an increase of 2.4% over the same period of 2017 – and a higher increase in constant currency (+4%) -, chiefly attributable to the Helicopters sector and, to a lesser extent, to Electronics, Defence & Security Systems.
• EBITA: amounted to EUR 632 million (with a ROS of 7.7%), compared to the first nine months of 2017 (EUR 694 million – ROS of 8.6%). This  decrease was mainly attributable to a lower contribution from the GIE-ATR Consortium (which was impacted  by lower deliveries and a negative effect of the USD/€ exchange rate), and also to Helicopters; both these segments had seen in the previous year particularly positive quarters in terms of mix of operations.
• EBIT: amounted to EUR 372 million, showed a reduction, compared to the first nine months of the previous year, partly due to the performance of EBITA, and partly due to costs allocated in relation to the measures under Law 92/2012 (“Fornero Act”, EUR 170 million), partially offset by lower restructuring costs.
• Net Result before extraordinary transactions: amounted to EUR 164 million, benefitting from lower financial costs compared to the previous year, as a result of the buy-back operations and the redemption of bond issues that were mainly completed during the last quarter of 2017.
• Net Result: amounted to EUR 263 million, benefitted from the release of a part of the provision set aside against the guarantees given upon the disposal of the equity interest in Ansaldo Energia.
• Group Net Debt: amounted to EUR 3,503 million showed an improvement compared to 30 September 2017 (EUR 4,004 million), while the figure showed an increase compared to 31 December 2017, which was due to the seasonal trend in cash flows and to the payment of dividends (EUR 81 million).
• Free Operating Cash Flow (FOCF): amounted to negative EUR 800 million, compared to the first nine months of 2017 (EUR -972 million), benefitted from the net impact of the advances on the NH 90 Qatar contract, which more than compensated for the expected change in financial terms and conditions of the EFA Kuwait contract in the two comparative periods together with the start of production operations.

Outlook
In consideration of the results achieved in the first nine months of 2018 and of the expectations for the final quarter, we confirm the Guidance for the full year that was made at the time of the preparation of the half-year financial report at 30 June 2018.