Avio runs again, 45% jump since the launch of Vega-C

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) The Avio's rally continues, with the entire defence sector gaining another 4%-plus. Also on the defensive ranks were Leonardo andFincantieri, while in Frankfurt the list counted on Rheinmetall and in Paris the pink jersey was Thales. But the most impressive rally is that of Avio: since the beginning of the year the stock has risen 49% but the rise is almost all concentrated in the last 10 days: since Monday 18 May we are up almost 45% for the stock. In one year, the stock has risen by +150%. There are several factors behind the run, with the market rewarding first and foremost the group's change of role after the VV29 launch of Vega-C, which took place on 19 May from the European spaceport of Kourou in French Guiana. What the Italian Space Agency calls 'an epoch-making turning point for the European spaceflight sector': in fact, for the first time, Avio entirely conducted the activities and launch operations of the European Vega-C launcher. The launch - the fifth successful one for Vega-C - was also enthusiastically greeted by analysts, with the effects that we are still seeing on the share price, both for its strategic value and for the confirmation of the reliability of Avio's launcher, and - again - for the prospects of greater profitability for the company, given that previously part of the profits were shared with the Arianespac group. But from an industrial point of view, what is also being rewarded is the potential for expansion in the United States, underlined by Intesa Sanpaolo analysts in a report a few days ago: Lockheed Martin has in fact started work on an 87,000 sq. ft. munitions production centre at its Troy, Alabama campus, as part of the US push to increase missile production and strengthen its defence industrial base. The US is a key market for Avio, and Intesa believes the company 'is very well positioned to win significant contracts in the context of increasing missile production in the US'. Avio is building a production site in the US and meanwhile has agreements with both Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. Avio and Lockheed Martin are discussing the supply of solid-propellant engines for both tactical and strategic missiles. The market is therefore betting on a future strengthening of the group in the US and is also rewarding the share in a generalised climate of euphoria in the sector, in view of Space X's mega IPO on Wall Street.