Leonardo’s Board of Directors, convened Tuesday under the Chairmanship of Luciano Carta, examined and unanimously approved the draft of Group consolidated and Leonardo S.p.A. financial statements at 31 December 2020.
Alessandro Profumo (photo), Leonardo CEO, stated: “We have addressed the 2020 challenging environment achieving strong performance with orders at € 13.8 billion, revenues at € 13.4 billion, EBITA at € 938 million and FOCF positive for € 40 million. Our resilient military and governmental business is in good shape enabling us to deliver results despite Covid impact on civil business”.
“Our strong foundations and core fundamentals give us firm confidence in both the short-term and medium-long term. We are catching new opportunities post Covid leveraging existing transversal capabilities and we are fully focused to create value sustainably for all our stakeholders,” he added.
Leonardo’s first Integrated Annual Report aims to offer in a single document a complete, measurable and transparent view of the value generated by the company, connecting financial performance with environmental, social and governance information.
A representation of the development strategies and performances achieved, of the way in which the company creates innovative solutions with its supply chain partners and the scientific research ecosystem, of the way in which it operates responsibly in the countries where it is present, of the use it makes of all its capital, both financial and non-financial.
In this manner, Leonardo strengthens its focus on sustainability within the vision of the next decade, expressed by the Be Tomorrow - Leonardo 2030 Strategic Plan, which outlines the strategic priorities underlying the path to innovation and sustainable development.
The year 2020 saw the Leonardo Group cope with the effects of the pandemic in a scenario that was out of the ordinary and unprecedented, thanks to the strength and diversification of its portfolio of products and solutions and its widespread presence all over the world.
Even if the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the financial position and performance in 2020, the business fundamentals and prospects in the medium to long-term remain unchanged.
In spite of the serious crisis that struck the civil aviation sector and its main global players, Leonardo gave further proof of its resilience in that its sales performance was at the same level as the previous year, while benefitting from orders gained from domestic customers in government and military sectors.
Even with regard to Revenues, the actions taken to limit the effects of government measures restricting movement and the steps taken for the protection of health, in addition to higher production volumes on the programs in the defense sector, both in the Aircraft Division and in the Helicopters and Electronics sectors, were responsible for a result that was practically the same as in 2019, thus also offsetting a substantial decline in production rates imposed by the main aviation customers Boeing, Airbus and ATR.
While benefiting from the actions taken to bring the business back to full operation and ensure cost reduction, industrial performance and profitability were impacted by the slowdowns recorded during the first phase of the emergency and by a lower demand in the civil aviation sector that affected in particular the Aerostructures Division, helicopters in the civil sector and the ATR JV, which were heavily hit by the drop in demand from the operators in the sector.
Finally, cash flow, while being affected by lower revenues and the slowdowns caused by the pandemic, posted a slightly positive value thanks to an exceptionally high level of proceeds recorded during the last quarter. The Group’s net debt remained stable at pre-Covid 2019 levels, after excluding the effects of dividends paid, strategic M&A transactions and the recognition of financial liabilities deriving from new leases.
Leonardo, a global high-technology company, is among the top ten world players in Aerospace, Defense and Security and Italy’s main industrial company. Organized into five business divisions, Leonardo has a significant industrial presence in Italy, the United Kingdom, Poland and the USA, where it also operates through subsidiaries such as Leonardo DRS (defense electronics), and joint ventures and partnerships: ATR, MBDA, Telespazio, Thales Alenia Space and Avio.
