Leonardo, defence boom boosts revenues and Ebita. Group confirms 2025 targets

Strengthened by the new alliance in space, thanks to the memorandum of understanding signed a few days ago with Thales and Airbus, Leonardo presents itself to the test of results for the first nine months with revenues and EBITDA up despite the change in the perimeter linked to the sale of the former Wass to Fincantieri. Driving the group led by Roberto Cingolani, who speaks, not surprisingly, of a 'positive trend' for the company, is above all the performance of Helicopters and Electronics for Defence and Security.

The accounts thus closed with an ordinary net profit of €466 million, up 28% compared to the same period of 2024, EBIT up 18.9% on the restated figure for the comparative period, to €945 million, EBIT up 13.5% to €722 million, and revenues of €13.4 billion (+11.3%). Orders for the period amounted to €18.2 billion (+23.4%), supported by a major order for the Aeronautics division (Eurofighter training for Kuwait): the order backlog thus reached €47.3 billion (€1.4 billion book-to-bill, the ratio of orders received to sales).

Free cash flow was negative at EUR 426m, but improved compared to the previous period by 22.5%. The performance of Focf and the consideration received as part of the sale of the Uas business, amounting to approximately 446 million, resulted in a consequent positive impact on the group's net debt (2.3 billion), down 25.9% compared to 30 September 2024, whereas at the end of 2024 the exposure was 1.79 billion.

"The figures for the first nine months of 2025 highlight the positive performance of the group. Constantly growing volumes and solid profitability support our competitive positioning on the domestic and international market," commented CEO Cingolani. "We confirm our 2025 guidance, revised upwards last July with more challenging targets in terms of orders, FOCF and net debt, and our commitment to the punctual execution of the industrial plan, which is advancing along the identified strategic lines.

Cingolani then recalled the latest moves completed by the group. "We continued our path of inorganic growth," explained the top manager, "with the acquisition of Iveco Defence, and, as part of the development of European alliances, we signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbus and Thales for the creation of a new company in the space sector. This transaction is aimed at strengthening Europe's strategic autonomy in space and enhances our role as a reference player in the Aeronautics Defence and Space sector'.