Luciano Carta is the new president of Leonardo. He was officially appointed by the shareholders' meeting which approved the 2019 financial statements and the payment of a coupon of 14 cents per share on last year's profits. According to what was communicated by the company, the participation of institutional investors, mainly foreign, was "significant", equal to approximately "52% of the share capital present at the meeting".
LEONARDO: 2019 FINANCIAL STATEMENT
The colossus led by Alessandro Profumo closed 2019 with orders equal to 14,105 billion euros and an order backlog equal to 36,5 billion, up by 1,1% and with coverage in terms of equivalent production equal to over 2,5, 12,6 years. Double-digit growth for revenues, which rose by 13,784% to 31 billion euros. As at 2019 December 822, profit amounted to 1,251 million euros, while the ebitda stood at 1,12 billion euros, up on the 2018 billion recorded in XNUMX.
LEONARDO: DIVIDEND
Leonardo's shareholders approved the payment of a dividend of 14 cents per share. The detachment is scheduled for Monday 22 June, while the payment will be two days later, with record dates scheduled for 23 June.
THE NEW BOD
The shareholders' meeting also proceeded to appoint the 12 members of the board of directors in office for the next three financial years.
In addition to Luciano Carta, president, and Alessandro Profumo, managing director, the following will also be part of the board: Carmine America, Pierfrancesco Barletta, Elena Comparato, Paola Giannetakis, Federica Guidi, Maurizio Pinnarò. All six names are included in the list presented by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, owner of approximately 30,204% of the share capital. The other four members, represented by a group of asset management companies and institutional investors owning approximately 1,350% of the share capital, are: Dario Frigerio, Marina Rubini, Patrizia Michela Giangualano, Ferruccio Resta.
The new board of directors met immediately and conferred on the new president Carta the powers relating to "Group Security", "Group Internal Audit” and “Institutional Reports”. At the same time, the board of directors confirmed Alessandro Profumo in the role of CEO, conferring on him "all the related powers for the unitary management of the company and the group, with the exclusion of specific powers that the board, in addition to those that cannot be delegated by law, has reserved to the own competence”, reads Leonardo's note.
COVID-19 EFFECT
“The COVID-19 emergency is having effects on the regular and ordinary performance of the Group's business activities, in a global context of severe economic recession and high uncertainty. This requires suspending the forecasts for the 2020 financial year formulated in March in the hypothesis of the absence of COVID-19”, explains Leonardo in a note. The impact, on the other hand, is already visible on the first quarter accounts, closed with revenues down and Ebitda down sharply, despite the strong increase in orders.
"The Group - underlines Leonardo - reacted promptly to the new scenario by implementing a series of measures aimed primarily at guaranteeing full protection of the health and safety of workers, at the same time preserving the continuity of its productions, pertaining to business sectors considered strategic in the main countries in which the Group operates". Despite this, the uncertainty about the seriousness and duration of the pandemic does not currently allow "a quantification of the effects on the Group's performance in 2020".
THE TITLE AT PIAZZA AFFARI
In Piazza Affari, the Leonardo stock gains 0,74% to 5,432 euros after spending part of the morning in decline. The shares discounted yesterday's judgment from Fitch which confirmed Leonardo's long-term rating at BBB-, changing the outlook from stable to negative.
