Finmeccanica makes way for Leonardo and for the Italian engineering industry an era that lasted 68 years ends. This is one of the novelties that emerged from the shareholders' meeting, which met today to approve the 2015 financial statements, and which voted in favor of changing the company name, which will thus officially become Leonardo-Finmeccanica spa for the current year, while from 1 January 2017 it will take on the name Leonardo spa with a new logo.
The group's top management explained that the proposal to abandon the Finmeccanica name arose from the need to accentuate the "important and robust transformation which from 2016 January XNUMX led Finmeccanica to become the only company active in the defense, aerospace and safety, with a new governance system, which makes it possible to increase efficiency and effectiveness by reducing management costs", explained the president of the group, Gianni de Gennaro, who also revealed: "We chose Leonardo inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, because there is no sector of Finmeccanica's activity in which Leonardo is not interested”.
The company's new line has translated "in significant progress to implement the strategy envisaged by the plan and in solid foundations for the 2016 financial year", he reiterated the CEO, Mauro Moretti. The company “has changed a lot in many aspects, there has been a strong improvement in profitability, an increase in cash generation and a reduction in debt. This translated into an increase in net asset value of 448 million. We aimed for clearer order selection, a stronger portfolio gives us more peace of mind and makes for a more transparent and cleaner balance sheet. Industrial performance has also greatly improved."
With regard to strategies, Moretti then assured that "we will stick to the core business we have chosen and we will proceed to invest resources to have the ability to challenge competitors in an increasingly global market". Few comments related to the impact on the 2016 guidance of theorder signed with Kuwait for the supply of 28 Eurofighters. An order worth "about 8 billion euros" which, according to Moretti, "allows on the one hand to collect an important order and on the other to develop a second life season for the multi-role fighter, projecting it to 2030". The effects of this contract, continued the CEO, “will be announced immediately following the board meeting on May 5th which will approve the quarterly report. Immediately afterwards we will provide the market with information on the new 2016 guidelines” which, after signing the contract with Kuwait, “will show positive effects on some items such as orders and cash”. The order, as well as the quarterly accounts, will be discussed by the Board of Directors on May 5th. The group has also said it will retain control of the Americana Drs.
At the beginning of the afternoon the title Finmeccanica it lost 0,62% on the stock exchange at 11,27 euros per share, in line with the losses of the entire Ftse Mib index, which dropped after 14 pm by about half a percentage point.
