Good afternoon. This is the Chorus Call conference operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Leonardo first quarter 2021 results conference call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star and zero on your telephone. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Miss Valeria Ricciotti, Head of Investor Relations and Credit Rating Agencies. Please go ahead, madam.
Good evening, everybody. Thank you for joining us today on our first quarter 2021 results conference call. I'm Valeria Ricciotti, Head of Investor Relations and Credit Rating Agencies. Today, our CEO, Alessandro Profumo, will take you through our progress during the first quarter of this year, and our CFO, Alessandra Genco, will take you through the Q1 financial results and our outlook for the full year. Then we will welcome your questions. I will now hand you over to our CEO, Alessandro Profumo.
Many thanks, Valeria. Many thanks to all of you. My mistake is due to the fact that there is as well, Valerio Cioffi with us today and Giovanni Soccodato . Thank you for taking the time to join us today, and we start with the key points about our first quarter results and our recent progress since starting the year. We have made a solid start to the year and in line with expectations. First quarter is the smallest contributor to the year. We have continued to achieve good ordering pace and our strong backlog has supported growing revenues. Our profitability has remained robust, and our cash flow is in line with the plan. We are progressing well with our plans. We are leveraging on our EUR 36.4 billion of backlog in a complex global context.
With a strong order intake level, also this quarter at EUR 3.4 billion, less reliant on large-scale orders and benefiting from the resilience of the military governmental business and demand in export markets. Revenue is at EUR 20 billion, confirming our growth path with higher profitability across the group besides Aerostructures. EBITA is at EUR 95 million this quarter, recording a total growth rate higher than 130%. The last year, we had the first impact of COVID, but I think that this is quite a good number. We are confirming our strong liquidity and financial flexibility with a free operating cash flow of EUR -1.4 billion, reflecting usual seasonality. Military governmental markets remain robust. We are continuing leveraging on our prevalent exposure on key domestic markets.
We are seeing good continued demand in export markets as well, even if travel restriction has delayed the winning of some orders or the delivery of some civil products. Meanwhile, we remain cautious on the speed of recovery on the civil side, as we talked about it to you in our recent full year results. The impact of COVID pandemic is certainly not yet over. We continue to see its effects globally. There is continued uncertainty because of it around the world. This will continue for some time into the year. Despite this, overall, we have made a solid start to this year. Also to mention on our continuing progress on ESG. ESG targets have been included in our remuneration report to be approved by the AGM. They will now be part of both the short-term and long-term incentive plan.
We also continue to make good strategic progress in important areas, as you can see here in the next slide. We continue leveraging existing assets and technologies to support next generation products. For example, the Eurofighter platform has a strong development path for platform upgrades. Also, thanks to government support and the external market. We are actively pursuing new opportunities post-COVID. Strategically, we are also doing more than this. We have talked for some time about our portfolios. What you have seen from us in the first quarter of this year is really taking a much more active approach to managing the portfolio to maximize its value. First, and most importantly, in addressing the challenges impacting the civil side of our business.
With a proactive review of options to accelerate transformation and address structural issues, including rationalizing industrial sites, investing to increase efficiency and flexibility, and headcount reduction. We are in active dialogue with unions on plans to address these challenges. We want to position Aerostructures and our ATR joint venture for the future, both operationally, financially and being set up for the long- term and next- generation program. We hope to update you later this year in more detail on our progress here on the civil side. As we said in full year 2020 results, we are also evaluating potential disposals. For example, the automation business. We are conducting a critical product portfolio evaluation, focusing capital on lines of business with the strongest capabilities.
It will also contribute to maintaining a solid capital structure. We have also seen our active approach with the IPO process that we began for a minority stake in DRS, our important presence in the U.S. The rationale in this case is allow the financial market to appreciate better the intrinsic value in the company, while maintaining our exposure to this key strategic market. Despite the strong interest received during the roadshow, the recent market condition did not support an adequate valuation for us. We intend to reconsider this move when market conditions are more favorable and allow for an adequate valuation of the business. We have seen we have recently expanded our naval electronics portfolio with acquisition of 30% of GEM Elettronica , and we have announced the acquisition of a 25.1% stake in HENSOLDT.
This move will establish a strategic on-site presence in the fast growing German defense market and allow a further cooperation between complementary businesses across the others, product and then market. We also have a long-held belief in importance of building cooperation across the European aerospace and defense industry. We are determined to play an active role here. That is the context relating to the acquisition of the stake in the leading European German HENSOLDT sensor solution business. Let me give you more color on that. We are acquiring a 25.1% stake. We intend to implement a new strategic partnership to take advantage of attractive future opportunities. The closing of transaction is expected for the second half of 2021, subject to customary closing conditions. ANVIL is in a very attractive space, sensor tech for defense and security application.
It has an expanding portfolio in cybersecurity, data management and robotics. We see a very strong tangible, industrial and strategic rationale behind this investment and partnership. It will enhance our combined access to the German, Italian, and U.K. market, leveraging our joint networks to accelerate commercial initiatives in international markets and leveraging complementary portfolios to offer comprehensive products and solutions to customers. Sharing best practices to ensure the compatibility of future technologies. It will strengthen our Defense Electronics activities and strengthen our footprint in a fast growing segment. It will put us an even stronger position behind important military and governmental programs such as FCAS and Eurodrone. Even before this, we have already been working together with HENSOLDT, they are no stranger to us, and we are very used to these kinds of tie-ups and we understand how to make them more valuable.
At the same time, we can maintain a very solid capital structure also through disposal and the potential IPO of DRS. All this adds up to important strategic progress and an increasing active approach to managing our portfolio. We are confident in our business strengths and strategy. I mentioned the actions we are taking on Aerostructures and ATR. Let me touch briefly on our other businesses. We continue to make choices in strategy aimed at increasing their long-term prospects, building our volumes, and improving the quality and longevity of profit streams and cash flow. State helicopters. It has proved its strength in the current condition. In the business, it is well balanced in military, civil, plus attractive customer support. We have the right product strategy, dual use.
The military governmental component has provided great resiliency, flexibility, and stability in a tough environment like we have seen during the pandemic. We can be confident looking forward longer- term. Our product portfolio is leading to a solid stream of revenues coming also from the most profitable customer support activities in the coming decades. We continue to invest well and build for the future. Look at Kopter acquisition to enlarge the product range in a specific segment and opening new markets, or the AW609 and the AWHERO. Other family of helicopters is extra, the AW169. Across our Electronics Division in Europe, here we saw a very good start to the year commercially, and we have seen.
We have a solid order book. We have established long-term relationship with customers built on trust and close cooperation, becoming the partner of choice. Our strategy is to gain long-term repeat business and also potentially support business as well. We have won positions on attractive long-term opportunities, and we can leverage our strong incumbent position to produce attractive continuing repeat business. For example, the EFA fleets guaranteeing opportunities until 2040, 2050. Now, you can also see example in laser and IFF Mode 5. It also enabled us to expand in aviation market. For example, with our targeting laser system, where for 17 years we have been the sole supplier to Lockheed Martin for the F-35 , and now for U.S. Apache platform as well. In U.S., DRS continues to perform strongly, with top line growth confirmed.
Here, we are very well- positioned towards U.S. Department of Defense key priorities. We expect margin expansion to be driven by transitioning of programs from development to production. All in all, we see a positive outlook for the future of our Defense Electronics activity. Next, Aircraft is a structurally strong business. We are well-positioned on key long-term programs like EFA, that will bring a constant flow of high value-added customer support activities. It is performing very well commercially. We feel positive looking at the pipeline of new potential opportunities. It has a best-in-class profitability. It is expected to grow on all metrics in absolute terms. Not forget the key EFA wave, bringing growing contribution and the Eurodrone contract about to be finalized. We are investing in trainers and attractive and growing business.
The M-346, you saw recent achievements in Greece and other export campaigns, which will bring us a solid bulk of activity. The M-345, still in the initial phase, with significant opportunities in domestic and export countries. The F-35, where we see long-term MRO activities. Looking further forward for our group as a whole, as I said, the impact of the global pandemic continues and is not over yet. We can have confidence in the short- term because of our commercial and operational resilience and our continued commercial momentum, driving order intake and so on. Our top line benefiting from our strong backlog, especially on the military side, governmental side. In the medium- term, as the civil side will recover and reposition for the future, and we take advantage of post-COVID opportunities.
In the longer- term, as we gain the benefit of our strategy of building sustainable growth and maximizing the value in our portfolio. Thank you for the attention. Now I would like to hand over to Alessandra. Alessandra?
Thanks, Alessandro, good afternoon, everybody. It is a month and a half since we spoke to you in the detailed full year 2020 results presentation. As you know, although Q1 is important to us as we look to start the year in the right way, it is always our small contributor to the full year. It is important to bear this in mind. As you can see, we have made a solid start to the year. Q1 results are in line with our expectations when we recently set out our guidance for the full year. Continued strong demand for our products on the military governmental side has supported both our order intake and growing top line. We're leveraging on our strong backlogs of EUR 36.4 billion. Order intake of EUR 3.4 billion, flat year-over-year, well-balanced, and with no jumbo orders included. Revenues of EUR 2.8 billion, up 7.7% year-over-year.
Profitability remains robust and is higher across the group, except for Aerostructures. Free operating cash flow is in line with plan at this stage of the year, at EUR -1.4 billion, reflecting usual seasonality. We confirm our strong liquidity position with no material refinancing needs due in 2021. Let's look at the key group metrics for Q1, and remember, the prior year comparator, Q1 2020, was the period when we began to see the impact of the pandemic on our results in March 2020. First, looking at new order intake. We're pleased with our continued commercial momentum, EUR 3.4 billion of new orders in Q1 at a similar level to last year, nicely distributed across the group, plus looking forward with the prospect of attractive pipeline opportunities. The standout commercial performance in the quarter was from Defense Electronics.
In Europe, it was especially strong, with new orders of EUR 1.5 billion, up almost 80%, including EFA Germany, involving 38 Typhoon aircraft, including orders to equip the near future submarines for the Italian Navy, and in cyber contracts for the Italian governmental and military forces. DRS also continued its strong commercial momentum with additional orders from the Mounted Family of Computer Systems for the U.S. Army, as well as orders for vehicle protection equipment packages. Helicopters won new orders in Q1 for EUR 855 million. Noting a high comparator in Q1 2020 because of the major U.K. Merlin support contract. We saw the second order in the U.S. for 36 Naval TH-73A helicopters. In Aircraft, order intake rose to EUR 595 million, thanks to the important trainer export campaign for the M-346, as well as IPA support and others.
While Aerostructures recorded a sharp fall in orders, reflecting the current very tough environment and position of major customers. Overall, a good commercial performance. Next, revenues. With group Q1 revenues at EUR 2.8 billion, up 7.7%, confirming our growth path as we see good performances in all divisions except Aerostructures. Helicopters delivered revenues of EUR 792 million, up 12.5%, executing on its backlog, driven by ramp-up of military governmental programs such as NH90 for Qatar and the Navy trainer. Defense Electronics Europe saw revenues up 10% to EUR 931 million across all business areas. DRS showed strong progress, with higher volumes up 18%, excluding FX effects. Aircraft increased top-line revenues by 18.3% to EUR 510 million, in particular driven by the M-346. While Aerostructures volumes were down, reflecting the current tough environment. Overall, a good top-line performance in Q1, reflecting how we have been delivering well from our solid backlog.
Moving on to EBITA and profitability. I'll explain the drivers by business in a moment, the key points here are Q1 EBITA was EUR 95 million. That's over double the level of last year in the first quarter, with higher volumes and improving profitability, with ROS at 3.4% versus 1.6% last year. Remember that Q1 last year was impacted by the sudden emergency of COVID halfway through the quarter. Our results this year shows the efforts we have made since then, achieving operational recovery from the worst of the pandemic impact, with productive hours 8% higher than in Q1 last year if we exclude Aerostructures. Reducing the under absorption of costs and by achieving higher volumes, profitability across the group is improving, except in Aerostructures. Let's look at the individual businesses.
Helicopters show an increase to EUR 31 million on the back of higher revenues and improved manufacturing efficiency. Defense Electronics delivered a good positive performance. In Europe, increase EBITA to EUR 79 million, again driven by higher volumes and reduced under absorption. DRS in the U.S. delivered strong growth in line with our margin expansion plan. EBITA at $58 million, leading to a return on sales higher at 8.5% in the quarter. Aircraft increases EBITA to EUR 47 million, up strongly with a ROS of 9.2%, again, driven by higher volumes and better manufacturing efficiency compared to the first quarter last year. Losses in Aerostructures increased to EUR 46 million, reflecting the expected reduction in volumes, leading to production size running at lower capacity. Similarly, ATR continues to be heavily impacted by the challenges in the civil aerospace market, with a negative contribution of EUR 14 million.
We are taking actions, already beginning to reduce costs against a tough backdrop. In our space joint venture, there was a slightly better result in the quarter, confirmed good results in space services and improved manufacturing performance. Overall, we have maintained robust and solid profitability for the group, despite the external environment and continued impact on the civil side. Moving to below the line items. You can see we have benefited from a higher EBITA, and in the quarter, there were EUR 11 million of non-recurring costs related to COVID, and restructuring costs and PB&A in line with last year. Financial charges were lower at EUR 46 million, and taxes higher at EUR 31 million. We have recently shown how we have managed cash flow well in these challenging external conditions.
Our free operating cash flow in Q1 progressed in line with plan and showed the impact of our focus and discipline. At EUR -1.4 billion, it reflects our usual seasonality with cash inflows heavily weighted towards the second half. You can see a year-over-year of EUR 173 million. Moving to our balance sheet, we confirm and maintain our continued strong liquidity position at EUR 4.2 billion. We are confident of maintaining the solid financial capital structure post the Hensoldt acquisition. We have the additional options of strengthening this further through potential disposals, as well as through the potential strategic move to IPO a minority stake in DRS. You have seen Q1 is a solid start to the year and on track with our expectations. Our main businesses on the military governmental side are delivering, and the year has started well, especially in ordering pace and revenue growth.
We are confirming the full year guidance that we recently gave you in March. You can see here on the slide, continuing commercial momentum and new order intake, top line growing as we leverage off a solid backlog, EBITDA improving and remain robust despite the civil softness and continuing COVID effects. While free operating cash flow up slightly with resilience on the defense side, offset by pressures on the civil side and more normal levels on net investments. Now to conclude, we are pleased with the start to the year. We are on track and delivering in an uncertain external context. While remembering that it is early in the year, as it's only Q1 and it's our smallest quarter.
The key points are continued good commercial progress with continuous order intake distributed across the group, confirmed growth path in revenues, operational resilience, robust profitability and cash flow in line with plan. Thank you, and now I'll hand it over to Q&A.
Excuse me, this is the call with the conference operator. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. To remove yourself from the question queue, please press star and two. Please pick up the receiver when asking questions. If you want to ask a question, press star. The first question is from David Barker with Bank of America. Please go ahead, sir.
Good evening, everyone. Can you hear me okay? There is a bit of feedback on the line.
No, we can hear you well.
Fantastic. Thank you. I've got two strategic questions. Firstly, on the minority stake in Hensoldt. Obviously, we know that Leonardo is a major industrial partner for the U.K. Tempest program. Hensoldt expects to be a major supplier for the FCAS. What does your stake in Hensoldt mean for Leonardo's participation in FCAS? Do you think that there's going to be some commonality there between the two platforms in terms of technology that you can exploit? That's my first question.
Okay. Now, Giovanni Soccodato will answer you.
Yes. Thanks. On Tempest and FCAS, it's clear that these two aircraft will operate in an alliance environment, net environment. I think we strongly believe that whatever the developments will be in the future, there will be a strong level of commonality in basic technologies and capabilities which should be delivered. We expect that would allow us working within Leonardo and Hensoldt in a kind of more coherent and cooperative way to improve the development of technology and capabilities going forward. I think this could be even strengthened and further developed, thanks to the fact that we are already cooperating on Eurofighter Typhoon. Eurofighter Typhoon will be operational for another 30 years at least, it being secured these days in Germany, and is going to undergo to a long-term evolution program, which will involve technology development enhancement.
Through that technology development enhancement, we will be able to develop technologies, be possibly and progressively spiraled into new development, FCAS or Tempest. This we think is a great opportunity that we can capture working together in the future, irrelevant of whether the two programs will continue to be two separate programs or will eventually converge. If they would converge, that would provide even greater opportunities and strength to our cooperation with Hensoldt in the future.
Second question.
Fantastic. My second question was just touching on DRS. I think you've been very clear about the reasons why you paused the partial listing. When do you expect the conditions to be more favorable, and what are you looking for? Does the EUR 606 million cash outflow in the second half of 2021 for Hensoldt increase the urgency for you to revisit this process?
No. The answer to the second part of your question is no, in the sense that we are working on other disposal in order to fund the HENSOLDT acquisition. We are not under pressure. We don't know when the market condition will be the right level. What we are focused on is to maintain the promise, that in any case, we made to the market during the roadshow, the management. This, you have seen the first quarter numbers, which are really good. I think that now we have to be focused on that.
Clearly, we hope that on one side, the two elemental uncertainties that unfortunately arrived the week of the listing. On one side, the growth of inflation and the expected raise of rates. On the other side, the approval, which just happened, of the, I don't know how to call, support package of President Biden, the stimulus package of $1.9 trillion, that was creating the question if there would be a cap to the defense budget in a certain period of time, will be over, these two uncertainty elements. I'm not saying that inflation won't be there, but at least will be digested by the markets. Hello?
Fantastic.
You are here, you are there. Okay. When the market condition will be the right one, we will reconsider the element. Clearly, we have a clear threshold in terms of evaluation, so it depends on what the market will do. As I said at the beginning of my answer, we are not under pressure.
Okay. Thank you very much.
The next question is from Alessandro Pozzi with Mediobanca. Please go ahead, sir.
Yeah, good afternoon. My first question is on disposals. I believe you mentioned that you're hoping to fund the stake in HENSOLDT with a disposal. Can you give us maybe a bit more color? You mentioned automation, is it fair to assume that potentially all disposal could add up to a few hundred million, up to maybe EUR 600 million?
Clearly, not automation. We are working on the portfolio. Since people are involved, as always, is wise, we want to be ahead enough in the discussion with a potential partner in order to make announcement when we can manage as well our internal stakeholders.
Okay. Thank you. On HENSOLDT, do you have in mind the level of synergies or additional order intake that potentially you can win by having a minority stake in the company?
We had a very good exercise in terms of potential synergies. Clearly, this is something that we have not communicated to the market because it is a minority stake. We have a clear view on what we can do together. I'm sure that you have noted that Thomas Müller, the CEO of HENSOLDT, asked to be part of our press release with a statement, just to give a strong signal of the fact that the management is fully supportive of that. Let me say, I do have some experience of working together with other companies, when the management who has the right mindset is always the best base in order to achieve great targets.
Okay. That's very clear. Do you think that there is another angle to this acquisition, a minority stake, like a geopolitical one, whereby potentially Italy is going to work closely with Germany in defense electronics or in defense in general?
You know perfectly that we are in a sector which, if possible, is even more regulated than the banking sector, than the financial sector from which you are coming, and I do have some experience as well. Defense is an incredibly sensitive sector for any nation. We think that Europe is our horizon, but it's a process. The nations are still very important. You can't do such kind of deal, even a minority, we have to go through the authorization by the German government without having an open, a clear discussion and engagement with the governments of the two nations.
Okay. Thank you. Maybe last one, if I can. On the tax rate, it looks like it was a bit higher this quarter. Can you give us an update on the tax rate for the rest of the year? Thank you.
Yes, Alessandro. This quarter is only a timing effect, so the tax rate for the full year is confirmed around 23%. What you are seeing here is an effect of tax losses in the Italian entity, which will change sign over the course of the year, and for which we did not account for deferred tax assets.
All right. Thank you.
The next question is from Martino De Ambroggi with Equita. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you. Good evening, everybody. The first question is on the net debt. You started an acquisition season, and we already know the covenant threshold. What's the maximum leverage or in absolute value, net debt you consider ideal before touching the threshold, taking into account with or without, probably, maybe without any divestiture?
The way I will think about it, Martino, is in terms of the financial policy of the group has not changed. The strong commitment that the group has to become investment grade by all the rating agencies is confirmed. There is no specific target in mind. We do have, as you were pointing out, adequate and abundant cautions on the governance, and we intend to maintain in going forward.
Okay. The second question is, well, maybe just a housekeeping question on the Aerostructures division.
Don't worry, we have the windows open because we are mainly in a room and there is an ambulance which is going through.
You are close to an hospital.
No, we are not close to an hospital. Unfortunately, we are on the [Sere river] and many connections of the city go through this way. Now it is away.
Yeah. The second is, let's say, more difficult question probably without a real answer today. The HENSOLDT investment, could it be the first step to build anything larger, I don't know, a joint venture or what else, or it remains just a minority stake in a listed entity going forward?
Martino, HENSOLDT is a listed company, so we cannot comment on that.
Okay. Except HENSOLDT, the business, the division in which HENSOLDT is involved is very large, you are looking for other potential partners, potential in different businesses inside the division, or it's just a one-shot?
No, we think that with HENSOLDT, we have a very complete range of products. We don't need to enlarge business lines. Maybe on the contrary, we can consider some disposal of some very specific business line. This is the focus we have, clearly, is an important step in order via the cooperation, to create a strong entity in the European market.
Okay, the very last is on the Aerostructures. I don't know if you are willing to disclose the free cash flow for the first quarter of the Aerostructures stand alone.
No, I think that the numbers we have shown are quite good overall. We are working heavily on Aerostructures. We expect in call to have a specific presentation on Aerostructures, because we are continuously working on redesigning the activities. I have to say that the Aerostructures division is reacting quite well. It's with all the problems we have because the market is still weak. We are seeing some signals from the OEM, that they are less pessimistic, I would say, in this way.
Okay. Thank you.
The next question is from Harry Breach with Stifel. Please go ahead, sir.
Good evening, Mr. Profumo, Ms. Genco. Can I please just ask three questions? Maybe if I can start, Alessandra, for you. Maybe understanding or thinking about the goal of achieving an investment grade rating, is it possible to think about what level of financial benefit that could bring Leonardo in terms of its interest cost and the fees it pays for performance bonds on export contracts? Can you give us some sense of the financial benefit to you when you get to investment grade? Maybe secondly, maybe one for Mr. Profumo. When I think about the portfolio now, we have a large number of stakes of 50% or less when we bring HENSOLDT and the acquisition closes. There'll be the 25.1% stake in HENSOLDT. We have the 50% in ATR, 33% in Thales Alenia Space, 25% MBDA.
When you think about the portfolio, are you comfortable with the capital that is being consumed by these minority stakes and the access to the cash flows of these JVs? Do you see that as being a satisfactory end state for those overall? Maybe just finally, when we are thinking about the large defense export contracts, whether it is Typhoon, NH90, elsewhere, in terms of milestone achievement so far this year, first quarter, maybe comparing it especially to last year, how happy are you in terms of on-time milestone achievement so far?
Yes. Well, the goal o f investment grade, it's definitely an important question. I have to recognize that with bank counterparts, for many of them, we are already viewed, considered as an investment grade company. The pricing that we are awarded, both for financing cash lines as well as for bonding lines, are reflecting this. Honestly, there would be some benefits, strictly financial benefits, on the loans where we have a margin grid reflecting credit rating. For example, the revolving credit facility has these terms. Broadly speaking, I would say that more than the financial cost, which per se are already pretty competitive, I would say, is the opportunity to have a lower- level of debt on the balance sheet and be able to swing forward faster as the opportunity arises.
On our comfort position with the minorities. You are right, we have a bunch of minorities, but we have to go through them. HENSOLDT is slightly different from the others. Clearly we are sure that down the road that there will be a European consolidation, and not to be there would be really to hamper our position in the electronic division in the long- term. We can like or not, but it's very important to have You know that there were four players, the other are competitors of us. To be the investor is also not where the other investors are. This would create a weakening of our long-term position in electronics. We are sure that this is important. Talking of the others, we are free in reality, because you said you have 33% of that, but we have 67% of Thales Alenia.
This is the Space Alliance, which is an important presence for us in the long run for being present in the space domain. The space domain is a very important one. You know also the multiples that do have the space business in other countries. For us, it is relevant. We are also present as Leonardo in the sector, with our electronic division. It's relevant for us as an overall market. We have MBDA. MBDA is the first step for a European consolidation. As you know, we have the same government rival as the other two players. It's a company which generated a lot of cash, and we have benefits out of that.
On top of that, this is a strong integration with our naval business, because when we have a contract for combat management system, usually we are as well as the armament contract, as well as the platform business. We have many MBDA sites on our helicopters or aircraft. When you go to negotiate in a country, as prime, you have named NH90 or Eurofighter, you take Qatar or Kuwait, where the armament as well is an important component. There are strong strategic meanings. You have also to consider, and I close to that on that, like I said, Europe is still with nations. It's not the U.S. We have a very clear European view, but this will happen step by step. We have to define if Leonardo is a player or not. We are a player.
We want to be a player with an incredible attention to our shareholder value. As you know, our return on invested capital is going up continuously, and we have achieved very good numbers. I think that this is an important element. Milestones, we were in 2020 as well. This is one of the reason why 2020 at the end has been a good year despite of COVID. We are very satisfied on how we are achieving the milestones on important programs. This is something which is relevant for us, and this is the reason why also we have the good numbers we are showing.
Thank you.
The next question is from Gabriele Gambarova with Banca Akros. Please go ahead, sir.
Yes, thank you for taking my question. The first one regards the Eurofighter program. I was wondering what is the perspective for your assembly line. Now you are working on the Kuwait planes, and I was wondering what are the perspectives of this specific program, and if you can share with us if you are, let's say, competing as prime in any area. I know you are part of the consortium, and in Finland there are good perspectives, and so on. I was wondering if you have also an involvement as prime somewhere. The second question was about the Q1 results. When I look at the eliminations or other activities item at EBITA level, I see that there is EUR 53 million, pretty high in comparison to the EUR 37 million last year.
I was wondering if there is any reason for this increase, and if you can provide me a guidance for the full year 2021? Thanks.
Relevant to the Eurofighter question, really, we have never had a stop in our assembly line due to wait order. At the same time, at the end of last year, we had also the Germany order of additional aircraft. Really, we are absolutely not planning a stop over the assembly line in Caselle. At the same time, Finland is not one of our prime campaign, but we have strategic campaign, because as we said in other occasions, we are planning at least another 200 orders in the next year on Eurofighter, that, as Giovanni said before, has a long life, also considering the long-term evolution programs and the bridging needed in order to jump in the Tempest or FCAS program. Really, we are working on campaign as prime, and as you said, during the consortium, we have different roles in any campaign.
We are supporting, obviously, Finland and the other potential acquisition, but we have not a real problem in assembly line, absolutely not.
Gabriele, on the other activity lines, what you see reflected in there is the result of what we had discussed in the past, which is the centralization of a number of activity and the strengthening of the corporate structure in order to better coordinate a number of initiatives and projects taken throughout the group. That increase will be following similar trends throughout the year.
Okay. Many thanks, Valerio and Alessandra.
Thank you.
Excuse me. There are no more questions registered at this time.
Okay. Thank you very much for being with us today. As usual, if you have follow-up questions, the IR team is available.
Many thanks. Bye.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over. You may disconnect your telephones. Thank you.