Net profit down, but revenues up. Leonardo's board of directors approved the accounts for the first half of 2018, which closed with a net result of 106 million euros compared to 213 million in the first half. The figure represents a decrease of 50% compared to the same period of the previous year.
Excluding the one-off costs relating to the early retirement agreement (equal to €170 million in the first half of 2018), however, the profit stands at 236 millioni.
Revenues grew, up by 1,7% to 5,589 billion euro (+4% if the exchange rate effect, negative by 130 million, is not taken into consideration).
New orders, on the other hand, amounted to 4,6 billion (-9%), while net borrowing improves to 3,474 billion. The Focf (Free operating cash flow, cash flow from operating activities) was negative by 809 million (-531 million in the first half of 2017).
As for the near future, the former Finmeccanica has revised upwards its estimates for 2018 on orders, on operating cash flow and net debt. The best forecasts are mainly due to the maxi order of helicopters in Qatar concerning the supply of 28 helicopters for 3 billion euros.
“The results for the first half of 2018 are in line with expectations”, he commented the CEO of Leonardo, Alessandro Profumo, who then explained: “We are focused on the execution of the Business Plan: the recovery of the Helicopters is proceeding successfully, DRS is benefiting from the growth of the US market and we have made further steps forward in terms of cost control. All of this will ensure long-term sustainable growth for the Group,” added Profumo. The helicopter deliveries at the end of July 2018, reports the company, are up compared to the end of July 2017; around 90 units have been delivered to date compared to the 85 delivered in 2017. For DRS, long-term growth is supported by the "soft backlog".
In Piazza Affari, before the release of the accounts, the stock closed the session up by 0,6% at 9,268 euros precisely on the expectation of positive six-monthly data.
