Leonardo's Board of Directors has appointed Alessandro Profumo CEO of Leonardo, "giving him all the relative powers for the unitary management of the Company and the Group". A statement from the company communicates it.
“I am honored by the role that has been assigned to me and I thank the shareholders and the Board of Directors for the trust placed in me. I am aware of the great responsibility involved in leading a company like Leonardo, a champion of high technology and at the top of the Aerospace, Defense and Security sector in the world. In our country, always Leonardo has been able to attract and cultivate the best technical-engineering talents and, in order to maintain the excellence of products and technologies, it will have to exploit this ability, in Italy and abroad”, declared Profumo.
“International competition is increasingly based on human capital, knowledge and the ability to get in tune with one's customers, providing them with sustainable solutions suited to their requests, together with a strong focus on financial and economic solidity. Leonardo is today a solid company, with all the features needed to compete better on global markets strengthening the positioning in the various sectors”, concluded the new CEO.
Today the meeting had also given the go-ahead for the 2016 financial statements, the last of the outgoing managing director Mauro Moretti. The former Railways manager, the non-renewal of which was affected by the conviction in the first instance for the Viareggio massacre, presented with a speech of almost an hour and a half, and a moment of emotion during the final thanks, the results of his management which has restored the company inherited three years ago in conditions of serious instability. “These have been three intense and fruitful years for you shareholders,” Moretti said. Revenues fall again, from 12,9 to 12 billion euros, but all the main industrial indicators are recovering: Ebitda rises by 2,2%, from 1,86 to 1,9 billion, Ebit of 11,1%, from 884 to 982 million, the net ordinary result from 253 to 545 million.
The order backlog grew from 28,7 to 34,7 billion, even if the figure entirely attributes to Leonardo the rich contract for the supply of the Eurofighters to Kuwait, obtained in consortium with other companies. “Similar contracts could be closed shortly,” Moretti said. For the first time in several years, the board has proposed to the shareholders' meeting a dividend of 14 cents per share, which according to the manager can be "increased" in future financial statements.
