Rome 09 March 2023 18:09 Inside Information
Leonardo's Board of Directors, convened today under the Chairmanship of Luciano Carta, examined and unanimously approved 2022 results.
“Our positive 2022 performance - Alessandro Profumo, Leonardo CEO, stated – is the result of a long term vision that has allowed the Group to strengthen its competitiveness in an international scenario of higher uncertainty. Our enhanced industrial strength, solid financial position, our accelerating commercial momentum, and sustainability are all at the basis of our results. We met or exceeded all our key targets once again, we have structurally and strongly increased our cash generation, with a FOCF of € 539 million in 2022, more than doubling 2021. Thanks to higher cash generation and the disposals of the Leonardo DRS businesses, we also reduced our debt level. At the same time, we strengthened our core business through the purchase of 25.1% of Hensoldt and the consolidation of RADA into Leonardo DRS. All this, allow us to propose again the payment of a dividend of 0.14 euros per share”.
"The results achieved, - Alessandro Profumo concludes – show once again the solidity of the Group's business and the ability to react and adapt to complex challenges. Today, Leonardo is stronger, more resilient, sustainable, innovative and in a better position to capture new opportunities. The confirmed sector leadership in the main ESG indices and the commitment to the Science Based Targets are some examples of our ESG progress. We are confident that in the future we will be able to achieve the challenging goals we have set ourselves and continue to create sustainable value for all our stakeholders thanks to the important contribution of all 51,000 of our people”.
FY2022 RESULTS SHOW LEONARDO IS STRONGER, MORE RESILIENT AND SUSTAINABLE, IN A BETTER POSITION TO CAPTURE NEW OPPORTUNITIES
VERY STRONG COMMERCIAL PERFORMANCE EXCEEDING GUIDANCE
- Backlog at € 37.5 billion, equal to about 2.5 years of production
- Book to Bill at 1.2x
IMPROVING PROFITABILITY
- RoS 8.3%, +0.8 p.p. vs FY2021 (**)
- Strong defence/governmental businesses
- Recovery of Aerostructures on track
SIGNIFICATIVE AND STRUCTURAL STEPPING UP CASH FLOW
- Reduced seasonality and factoring
- Reduced Aerostructures cash absorption (-€ 296 million vs -€ 339 million nel 2021), breakeven in 2025
- Net debt lower ca. € 100 million: cash flow generation and disposals of Leonardo DRS businesses more than offsetting strengthening of our core business (acquisition of 25.1% of Hensoldt and the consolidation of RADA into Leonardo DRS)
- Debt prepaid for ca. 800 million with the redemption in full of USD notes due 2039 and 2040 and early repayment of € 500 million Term Loan
(*) Adjusted perimeter to exclude the contribution of Global Enterprise Solutions (August-December 2021)
(**) Restatement to include covid costs within EBITA as previously accounted below the line
ESG PROGRESS
- -15% Scope 1+2 CO2 emissions
- Commitment to Science Based Target (SBTi)
- 19% of female managers on total managers vs 15% in 2017
- 44% of new hires under 30 vs 42% in 2021
- 55% of sources of funding linked to ESG vs 50% in 2021
FY 2023 GUIDANCE
Based on the current assessment of the effects deriving from the geopolitical situation on supply chain, inflation and global economy, and assuming no additional major deterioration
- Orders at ca. 17 € billion, Revenues at € 15.0–15.6 billion, EBITA at € 1,260–1,310 million, FOCF at ca. € 600 million, Group Net Debt at ca. € 2,6 billion
SOLID FUNDAMENTALS SUPPORTING CONFIDENCE IN MEDIUM-LONG TERM
Based on the current assessment of the effects deriving from the geopolitical situation on supply chain, inflation and global economy, and assuming no additional major deterioration
- Cumulative New Orders at ca. € 90 bn (vs € 80 bn previous plan) in 2022-2026, with Book to bill >1
- Mid-Single Digit Revenues CAGR (4-5%) confirmed, cumulative Revenues at ca. € 85 bn (vs € 78 bn previous plan) in 2023-2027
- High-Single Digit EBITA CAGR confirmed and RoS growing, at double digit at Plan end
- Growing ROIC; ca. 13% in 2025
- Confirming ca. € 3 bn cumulative cash generation in 2021-2025 (including Aerostructures)
- Group cash conversion rate ca. 70% from 2025, including Aerostructures
- Focus on deleveraging
2022 financial results
The performance and financial results for 2022 confirm the path to growth and increase in the profitability and cash flows that the Group has been embarked on since 2018.
New Orders showed sharp growth, coming to over €bil. 17, up by more than 20% compared to 2021 and consolidating the backlog at over €bil. 37. This positive performance was recorded in all business areas to a various extent, confirming the Group's commercial strength and the effectiveness of its diversified and multi-domain offering of products, systems and solutions that meet the complex operational requirements needed by its Customers.
Revenues show an increase of more than 4%, which has now been consolidated over the years, in particular as a result of the ongoing positive performance of Helicopters and of Defense Electronics & Security, which offset the decline recorded in Aeronautics in 2022, as well as of the lower contribution deriving from the sale of subsidiary Global Enterprise Solutions.
EBITA showed a significant double-digit increase, which was driven by Defense Electronics & Security, with the European component giving a large contribution, thus bringing ROS to exceed the 8% threshold. The positive performance of EBITA compared with the previous year is even more pronounced, equal to about 14%, if we consider that, unlike 2021, EBITA for the year includes the charges related to the COVID emergency as costs that are now recurring in nature, as clearly shown by the related restated figure for 2021 in the summary table of the Group's KPIs.
The 2022 net result also benefitted from the capital gain realised with regard to the sales of the businesses of Leonardo DRS (Global Enterprise Solutions and Advanced Acoustic Concepts) described in the section on “Industrial transactions”.
The financial performance was particularly substantial and significant with cash flow (FOCF) showing an increase of 158%, demonstrating the Group’s ability to put its efficiency plan on a robust footing, thus boosting cash generation in terms of structure.
The Group Net Debt showed a reduction of 3.4% compared to 2021, coming to €bil. 3; the significant cash generation and the proceeds from the sale of Global Enterprise Solutions and of the Advanced Acoustic Concepts Joint Venture allowed the Group to continue on the path to reduce its debt while strengthening the core business through the acquisition of 25.1% in the German company Hensoldt, the pro-quota profit of which is recognised under consolidated EBITA for 2022, and through consolidating the Israeli company RADA into the subsidiary Leonardo DRS’ financial statements.
The results that have been achieved are even more important in consideration of the lower contribution deriving from the sale of the Global Enterprise Solutions business of subsidiary Leonardo DRS during the year; they demonstrate above all the soundness of the Group's industrial structure, despite a general and national economic framework characterised by inflationary pressures on prices of energy and raw materials, as well as Leonardo’s ability to respond to challenges which it already demonstrated during the period of pandemic.
Main Key Performance Indicator with perimeter effect
In order to make the Group's performance of operations more comparable, which, conversely, includes the contribution given by this business for only 7 months in 2022, some performance indicators for the comparative period, excluding the months from August to December 2021, are reported below:
(*) EBITDA is given by EBITA, as defined below, before amortisation and depreciation (excluding amortisation of intangible assets arising from business combinations) and impairment losses (net of those relating to goodwill or classified among “non-recurring costs”).
(**) EBITA is obtained by eliminating from EBIT the following items: any impairment in goodwill; amortisation and impairment, if any, of the portion of the purchase price allocated to intangible assets as part of business combinations, restructuring costs that are a part of defined and significant plans; other exceptional costs or income, i.e. connected to particularly significant events that are not related to the ordinary performance of the business.
(***) EBIT is obtained by adding to Income before tax and financial expenses (defined as earnings before “financial income and expense”, “share of profits (losses) of equity- accounted investees”, “income taxes” and “Profit (loss) from discontinued operations”) the Group’s share of profit in the results of its strategic investments (MBDA, GIE ATR, TAS, Telespazio and Hensoldt), reported in the “share of profits (losses) of equity-accounted investees”. Until 31 December 2021 this indicator included solely the part of the results of the strategic joint ventures (MBDA, GIE ATR, TAS and Telespazio) pertaining to the Group.
(1) EBITA and ROS have been restated to include charges related to the COVID emergency, which until the 2021 financial statements were excluded from these indicators as they were classified as 'non-recurring charges'(€mil. 54 in 2021).
Commercial Performance
The following graphs show the performance of the four main business and economic ratios in the last 5 years, which highlight the continued growth achieved by the Group:
- New Orders, amounted to EUR 17,266 million showing significant growth of 20.7% (21% on a like-for-like perimeter) compared to 2021, even thanks to the contract signed with the Polish Ministry of Defence for the AW149 helicopters worth €bil. 1.4 and to the contribution given by Defense Electronics & Security in its U.S. component. More generally, the trend in new orders in the five-year period from 2018 to 2022 clearly highlights the effectiveness of the Leonardo Group's commercial offer thanks to the widespread geographic distribution of its sales organisation and the competitiveness of a diversified offering of products and multi-domain solutions in the market of Aerospace and Defense, both military and commercial, which, even in the absence of large one-shot orders, allows the growth in portfolio of future activities. Diversification of supply, geographic distribution, quality of products and integrated solutions that meet the complex operational requirements imposed by the customers, and innovation are the Group's sound distinguishing features that have enabled it to strengthen and expand the Group's market share during the aforesaid five-year period marked by global shocks of great importance and impact such as the pandemic, the changed international geopolitical environment, and the inflationary repercussions on prices of energy and raw materials
- Backlog, amounted to EUR 37,506 million ensures a coverage in terms of equivalent production equal to about 2.5 years. The book-to-bill ratio (the ratio of New Orders for the period to Revenues) was equal to about 1.2
Business Performance
- Revenues, amounted to EUR 14,713 million, showed a positive trend with an increase of 4.1% (4.7% on a like-for-like perimeter) compared to 2021 (€bil. 14.1), mainly due to the performance of Helicopters and Defense Electronics, in both the European and U.S. components. The civil component of Aerostructures also showed signs of recovery. As a result of the growth of the Order Backlog mentioned above, the Leonardo Group has been able to raise its level of operation, year-on-year and on an ongoing basis while boosting Revenues by almost €bil. 2.5 (+20%) over the five-year period mentioned above. Despite the inevitable downturns in the period of pandemic as a result of the restrictions imposed by government authorities and the decline in production volumes in the civil aviation sector, the Leonardo Group has been able to put in place any necessary action while showing capacity to respond and adapt to the complex events that have occurred. This made it possible to limit the impacts during the period, on the one hand, and on the other, to enable a rapid recovery in business volumes as confirmed by the 2022 results
- EBITA, amounted to EUR 1,218 million, recorded an increase of 13.9% compared with the Restated figure for 2021 (€mil. 1,069) (+14.9% on a like-for-like perimeter, with ROS coming to 8.3%, showing an improvement of 0.7 p.p. vis-à-vis the comparative Restated figure. As stated above, the comparative values have been restated to make them more comparable with the trend in the current period, which also includes the charges related to the COVID-19 emergency (classified as non-recurring costs in 2021, equal to €mil. 54). As regards this indicator too, the trend in the five-year period from 2018 to 2022 shows continuous growth, with the exception of the period of pandemic and excluding the effects reflected in the civil aviation business. The gradual recovery of profitability as a result of the efficiency improvement actions with specific regard to the Aerostructures production organization and the gradual recovery in the civil aviation market allow today to achieve Group results in line with the pre-pandemic periods, which are well above these levels if the Aerostructures business is excluded
- • EBIT, amounted to EUR 961 million, benefitted from an improved EBITA compared to 2021 (€mil. 911). Restructuring costs, which were higher than in 2021, included the estimated charges in connection with the execution of the agreement for the early retirement of personnel serving in the Corporate and Staff functions on a national basis. The 2021 figure, on the other hand, mainly incorporated the effect of the agreement governing, with a more limited scope of application, the early retirement of the Aerostructures division's workforce on a voluntary basis. Non-recurring costs for the period were significantly affected by the write-down of the exposure to the countries involved in the conflict existing between Russia and Ukraine - for an amount of €mil. 36 - and by transaction costs that were related to the completion of the acquisition of the Israeli company RADA and the subsequent listing of Leonardo DRS for €mil. 31. On the contrary, the 2021 figure included charges associated with the settlement of the Indian case, in addition to the aforesaid charges related to the COVID-19 emergency
- Net Result before extraordinary transactions, amounted to EUR 697 million, (€mil. 587 in the comparative period), benefitted from the EBIT performance, as well as from a lower impact of tax charges while reflecting the adverse effect due to charges related to the repurchase of USD-denominated bonds, which was carried out by Leonardo US Holding LLC and is described in greater detail in “Financial transactions.”
- Net Result, amounted to EUR 932 million (€mil. 587 in 2021), reflects the capital gain obtained from the sales of Leonardo DRS Global Enterprise Solutions and Advanced Acoustic Concepts businesses set out in the section of “Industrial Transactions”
It should be noted that the comparison with 2021 is affected by the lower contribution from the sales of Global Enterprise Solutions and AAC, which only contributed to the 2022 figures until July, with the former being instead consolidated on a line-by-line basis for the entire 2021 financial year and the latter according to the equity method.