Piazza Affari starts rising driven by Leonardo: shares rise by 1,91% to 10,18 euros on the morning of 20 April. The aerospace and defense company is posting strong performance in Milan, buoyed by a strong 2021 result and by Europe-wide growth in military spending in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Today, it is the new contract with the US Department of Defense worth 29 million dollars for the supply of helicopters for Israel but also the renewed rumors that in the group's future there may be a merger with Fincantieri (-0,74%). This was reported by "La Stampa", according to which the hypothesis of Lorenzo Mariani - executive director of Mbda, the consortium of Leonardo, Bae Systems and Airbus, and former manager of Finmeccanica - as new managing director reopens the way for integration with the shipbuilding group of Trieste. As suggested by the newspaper, this choice could "facilitate the integration between the two state giants already cherished by various governments".
This hypothesis is shared by Intesa Sanpaolo, while the Equita analysts remain more cautious, believing that Mariani's choice does not represent a decision already taken on the merger given that such hypotheses recur in regular cycles such as, for example, in 2019 for which various press sources said that the executive was thinking about integration. However, the analysts add that “in the current geopolitical context we believe that the creation of a single national defense pole (with ramifications in the civil sector) with dimensions such as to partially fill the gap compared to the main competitors can be dusted off, even if the methods and times of realization would remain to be clarified".
Fincantieri: appointments on Thursday 21 April
Expected for tomorrow, Thursday 21 April 2022, the filing for the renewal of the board of directors of Fincantieri by the reference shareholder CDP (71,3%). "The list, together with the documentation containing the information required by the Articles of Association and by the applicable legislation, will be made available to the public in the manner and within the terms established by the legislation in force, together with the additional lists which will be filed within the aforementioned term", reads the a company note.
Giuseppe Bono would remain the favorite for the position of president given his intimate knowledge of Fincantieri, which he has led for twenty years. But it will be the executive that will decide the fate of Bono who is now aiming for the presidency to stay in the saddle for at least another term.
Leonardo: new contract for helicopters destined for Israel
New contract from US Department of Defense for new single-engine multipurpose helicopters as part of the FMS (Foreign Military Sales) programs for Israel, whose Ministry of Defense is already a customer of Leonardo for this type of aircraft: a contract was signed in 2019 for a complete package of training capabilities in the defense field including seven AW119Kx single-engine helicopters to be produced in the United States. The value of the contract is 29 million dollars.
In detail, the United States Army will be responsible for the contractual aspects and the helicopters will be manufactured at the Leonardo plant in Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. This is learned in a note from the former Finmeccanica.
The number of AW119 operators continues to grow. This model has been chosen for defense, national security and public order tasks in several countries including, for example, the United States, Portugal, Finland, Latvia, Brazil, Ecuador, South Korea.
