Welcome, everybody. My name is Claudia Introvigne. I'm the responsible for our investor relations and market analysis here in Leonardo. Today, we are here to present our first quarter results for 2026. I'm really pleased to have here with me our CEO, Roberto Cingolani, and our CFO, Giuseppe Aurilio. Now we can begin, and I will hand over to Roberto. Thank you.
Thank you, Claudia. Hello, everybody. This is our last meeting, and will be the last day of my mandate, I will leave Leonardo tomorrow. At the location, which we will present the Q1 data, I would like to take a few minutes of your time to wrap up the last three years in view of the change of top management and to say goodbye to all of you. Let's start with the Q1 and the numbers that you've seen already there on the table. In the first three months of 2026, a few months after having launched the Michelangelo Dome, in October 25th, 2025, and the updated plan, we've got very good and encouraging results. The order backlog has been rising to EUR 57 billion, +23% versus 2025.
The book-to-bill ratio is 2. The new orders amount to EUR 9 billion, plus 31% year-over-year. Revenues increased to EUR 4.5 billion, plus 6.9% year-over-year. EBITDA growing by 32% up to EUR 2,081 million. The adjusted net result is EUR 184 million, plus 60% year-over-year. Free operating cash flow has been improved by 29%. It is still in the negative ground. It's minus EUR 411 million. The workforce concomitantly has been increased by 5,600 units. We have reached now more than 65,000 people in Leonardo Global. This data do not include the upside given by the acquisition of Iveco Defence, which has been, however, estimated as remarkable. Giuseppe will tell you more later.
I mean, frankly, guys, the numbers are very good and the upside of IDV is very promising, we could have even proposed an upgrading in guidance. Because tomorrow we will have the new CEO, I think, for fairness, we'll leave this choice to the next top management. As you see, the numbers are very promising, and I'm sure they will do a fantastic job. Anyway, Q1 2026 confirms that the plan is solid, credible, and feasible. This is in line with the expected further growth, which is foreseen by the new plan. I remind you, by the year 2030, the challenge is EUR 32 billion order, EUR 30 billion revenues, EUR 3.6 billion EBITDA, 12% return of sales, more than EUR 2 billion free operating cashflow. This is in 2030. This follow the already positive three-years trend that we registered during the mandate.
I just want to remind you that, in the last 3 years, we grew up by almost 20,000 people, reaching the 60,000 units. Importantly, one quarter were women. 64% of the new people own a technical background, and more than one half were below 30 years old. The productivity per capita has been increasing. I mean, the pre-COVID to post-COVID comparison, those are data at the end of 2025, we're increasing from EUR 290 kilo Euro per head count pre-COVID to EUR 320 kilo Euro per head count last year. The share value was growing from 10 to 64 maximum about 1 month ago. Market cap from EUR 4.6 billion to EUR 34 billion. Debt was under control. The free operating cash flow exceeded EUR 1 billion for the first time in 2025. It was a psychological target almost, very meaningful.
The margins are moving towards double-digit through all the company, which was our main commitment since the very beginning. Which were the guidelines of our operations over the mandate? The first one was what we define bullets and bytes, so this intriguing and unexpected merge of hardware and software, digital technologies and defense platforms that we've learned abruptly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The second guideline was no one can make on its own, so the need of alliances, especially at the European level, to fight to contrast the fragmentation of the European defense space, and also merger and acquisition in big collaborations among industries.
The third guideline was moving quickly from conventional defense to global security, not only military deterrence, but also cybersecurity, space security, so space observation, infrastructure security, energy security, something that we have to work on in the future, and even food security one day. Which were the enabling factors that brought us to get good results over the three years? First, cleaning the portfolio and withdrawing non-core business activities that were heavy stones in the balance sheet. Launching a saving plan, a very strategic and systematic saving plan, transversal to all the company. A strong effort in digitalization. Today, we have 1 terabyte per headcount memory and 0.5 teraflop computational power per headcount. Those numbers are world-class. That means AI-driven products and processes, improved manufacturing, digital services towards servitization, of course, use of digital twin in all our hardware platforms, new services.
The efficiency plan, because the demand of defense was growing because of the tremendous geopolitical situation, more than 60 conflicts in the planet, so we're working actively. We have been working actively in improving efficiency in production. Most important, a focus on specific technological priorities, increasing digital capability, as I mentioned before, digital twin, AI, cloud, data analytics, high-performance computing, develop hybrid warfare technologies, develop interoperability in the multi-domain, develop unmanned system in all domains. Today, all our platforms, land, sea, air, have the unmanned counterpart of any manned platform. Last but not least, we've been working on building a brand and the digital identity of the company, which was perceived like an old paper-based company. I think this transformation helped a lot in having more confidence in our approach.
The tool for all this was the industrial plan, an innovative rolling industrial plan, which started in 2023, primarily with the disciplined capital allocation, dividends, debt, clear R&D strategy, organic and inorganic growth. The completion of the product portfolio covering all domains, both through investments in new products, just remind you, satellite constellation, high-performance computing, cybersecurity, or through M&A, land vehicles, drones, some new parts of cybersecurity, et cetera. The international alliances and merger and acquisition market the difference with the past. Land Defense are the new impulse through the collaboration with the joint venture with Rheinmetall, collaboration with KNDS, Iveco Defence acquisition, the recent one, Baykar and the drone technology.
By the way, I'm happy to tell you that in a few weeks we will launch our first drones in Ronchi dei Legionari, the new models, so this will be, after a few months, the joint venture started, an interesting inauguration. Even IDV, Iveco Defence, opens up some interesting perspective towards land drones. Again, in the multi-domain concept where you have manned and unmanned systems that are interoperable, interconnected. The new aeronautic division, which is now doing very well with the new orders on the fighters, GCAP and Eurofighter, the M-346 and the Eurofighter, also has incorporated the aerostructure, we've been working a lot to create an international JV on aerostructures, which is finally at reach.
Finally, the cyber acceleration to enhance our AI capability and the new high-performance computing line of business that were created in 2025. In less than three years, all of this has generated the Michelangelo Dome project, a blend of electronic sensors and command and control at the center of the multi-domain, together with AI and cybersecurity, satellite constellations for Earth observation and early warning, manned and unmanned air, land, and sea platforms in the digital continuum of the combat cloud. We became the only industrial company in the world that has all the hardware platforms and the AI digital capabilities to create the first open shield architecture for air defense that can accommodate any asset compatible with NATO and our defense doctrines.
At the same time, the diversification and orchestration of hardware and software technologies makes us increasingly flexible, accelerating Leonardo's transformation from a defense company to a global security company. After three years, we leave a free, clean, and safe highway that must be traveled with great conviction, regardless of who is called to lead the transformation, and I'm sure that my successor and the new top management will move in the continuity because they participated in most of this work done so far. All of this has been possible thanks to the work of Leonardo employees, everyone from the first to the last in each of the 126 countries where we operate actively with production. The strategy is built, capitalized, and contracted. The plan is communicated. The job now is execution, not strategy anymore. Deviation from the plan could be detrimental for the company.
About EUR 1 billion a year self-funded R&D, in addition to the customer-funded EUR 2 billion per year R&D, is key to keep the pace of growth and to make Leonardo a world-class player. This is a good capital allocation story applied to a novel technology story, the so-called bullets and bite vision, both very timely in the current geopolitical scenario. Any short-term margin optimization through R&D cut would cause failure. The engineering capability in conjunction with the unique integration of software and digital technologies together with hardware platforms and the consequent enhanced servitization will increase margins, EBITDA, free operating cash flow, and the overall competitiveness of Leonardo. I'm proud of the work done so far, and I'm sure there will be continuity by the next management. The last three years were fantastic.
I believe there is plenty of room for further growth, and the acceleration ramp of the Q1 2026 is very encouraging. I want to thank all of you, dear investors and analysts, for your support, your constructive attitude, and for sharing the dream of a world-class Leonardo. Now it's my time to go, but maybe we'll meet again. Thank you heartily for your support. Bye-bye.
Thank you, Roberto, I know that today I can talk for everyone in Leonardo in thanking you for your outstanding leadership and for the contribution to the group over the last years. Thank you, Roberto. Back to Q1, it was a very strong start of the year, as Roberto said, outstanding performance in all of our KPIs. +30%, around +30%, in EBITDA, free operating cash flow and order intake. Revenues up by 10% net of the exchange difference, and improved profitability, up to 6.3% from 5.1% in Q1 2025. Again, strong start of the year. In the quarter, we completed also the acquisition of Iveco Defence for a total consideration of EUR 1.6 billion. IDV is not in the numbers we were discussing earlier.
It was consolidated for the balance sheet and for the backlog, for all the other flows, so income statement and cash flow, it will be consolidated starting April 1st, 2026. Third point, very important, progress in the credit ratings. We have improved our rating with Moody's from Ba3 to Ba2, maintaining also a positive outlook, good prospects for the future. At the same time, Standard & Poor's confirmed the current rating but improving the outlook to positive from stable. This is a very important acknowledgement of the progress we have made from a financial standpoint. Q1 results, Roberto has gone through them. Just a couple of points. Again, orders were up to EUR 9 billion in Q1 2026, plus more than 30% than last year. Revenues were up by 7%.
Again, it's 10% excluding the negative impacts of the translation, mainly of the U.S. dollars and of the DRS components. EBITDA has increased by more than 30% compared to Q1 2025. Free operating cash flow is negative, as it is usual in our business. It is expected, much less compared to the past. Plus 30%, it is an important result of our effort to make the trend much more linear over the year, although negative in the first quarter. Let's focus now on orders. I said very important result, strong commercial momentum. Orders were up by 31% compared to Q1 2025, with a total backlog at EUR 57 billion. It's more or less two point and a half years of production, including also the backlog coming from IDV, which is something close to EUR 6 billion.
If we look at each sector, you see that the progress is spread over all the business, we can say we are very much on track for getting our full-year guidance. We see a very good commercial momentum in all the division. Of course, the value, the total value of EUR 9 billion is only driven, is also driven by a couple of big orders. I want to remind the NMH order in helicopters for AW149 for the U.K. Armed Forces, which was a very important order for us. It was an important milestone, very important to get it already in the first quarter. In the aeronautics, where you see a big peak compared to Q1 2025, we have to remind the big order from the Austrian Air Force for M346.
A couple of big orders driving up to EUR 9 billion, but all the sectors improving. Defense electronics has improved significantly compared to last year, 20% if we look at Electronics Europe. Leonardo DRS was negative compared to Q1 2025, but because of a couple of effects, the first one is, as said, the negative exchange difference, and the second is the fact that in Q1 2025, DRS recognized a very important order on IBAS activities. The trend of DRS is very positive. We will see when commenting revenues and EBITDA again. Helicopters, I said the performance is outstanding, of course, driven by the order for NMH.
Q1 2025 had benefited from some important orders from governments, mainly the AW249 from the Italian MoD, so it partially offset the increase relating to the recognition of the NMH order. Aeronautics has said we have the Austrian order for M-346, we have also a number of very good success. We have Eurofighter orders from Germany and Italy, and also C-27J contract for logistics support for the Italian Air Force. Very good results, very good results also from Aerostructure. We will see better when talking about revenue sale EBITDA, but we see an increase of workloads, which is the key metrics for this division. Cyber & Space, a smaller division, but again, like last year, growth rate very important, plus 30% for Cyber, 18% for Space.
This has led us to a book-to-bill, which is 2 times, very important at a total backlog of EUR 57 billion. Revenues. Let's talk about the execution of this contract up by 10%, excluding the negative translation of USD, with improvements across all the business and all the divisions. Very solid performance. Again, very well on track versus our full-year guidance. Let's focus on the different sectors, starting from Defense Electronics. We see Electronics Europe growing by 15% compared to last year, very good improvement, additional scale. Leonardo DRS, you see a red number, but just because of the negative exchange difference, otherwise it would be a growth of 6%. Performing very well, driven by radar and Columbia-class submarine programs. Helicopters.
Helicopters, we are growing at a lower rate compared to the overall growth rate of the group, so around 3.8%. You may remember that this growth is in line with our full-year estimate, where we estimated a growth of 3.5% for helicopters, also due to the fact that over the last two years, we have been growing by more than 10% in each year. Very good performance. Very solid performance in Aeronautics, based on our core program. GCAP, IFA, M-346, and C-27J. Aerostructure. I said we see a big increase. Of course, this is mainly due to the increased rate of production on B787. You may remember that in Q1 2025, the rate of production was at around 4 deliveries per month. We started the year 2026 with 7.
Now we are at 8, the increasing rate of production is driving additional revenues and improving the results of Aerostructure. Cybersecurity & Space, again, as we've seen for orders, very, they're growing a lot. Cyber by around 20%, Space by 14% on a mix of programs. Space is benefiting from the service components, so SATCOM business and satellite systems and operations mainly. Very good performance in terms of revenues, well on track to deliver our full-year guidance. Now let's focus on EBITDA, where we see the, you know, outstanding results, up 33% compared to Q1 2025.
As you can see, of course, this is partially due to the volume effect, so more revenues, of course, more EBITDA, but a big increase is due to the improvement in profitability margins, so with the return on sales going up from 5.1% to 6.3%. Again, very important for me, it is an improvement which is spread across all the divisions, so it's a general improvement compared to last year. Let's look now at the breakdown by segment of EBITDA. Starting from Defense Electronics, which was the biggest contributor to this increase, plus 20% on a year-over-year basis compared to Q1 2025. If we look at the different components, you know that, inside the EBITDA of Defense Electronics, we have four building blocks.
We have Electronics Europe, we have Leonardo DRS, and we have the contribution from MBDA and SOAT only at EBITDA level. If we look at this breakdown, you can see that Electronics Europe has grown up by 25%. Outstanding results. ROS already in double digit starting Q1. That is a result that usually we get later in the year. This year in 2026, we are already double digit in Electronics Europe in Q1, very important. DRS has improved by 15%, despite it was affected by around $10 million of negative exchange differences, otherwise the improvement would have been much higher. Again, they are running at around 10% return on sales. They are closing the year at 9.8%, with a big improvement compared to last year, where they closed the quarter at 8.2%.
Aircraft. Aircraft, again, very solid performance driven by the programs I was remembering earlier. +20% in terms of EBITDA compared to Q1 2025. Return on sale close to double digit already in Q1, very good quarter also for aircraft. Aerostructure, as you can see, is negative, of course, -45, but we see here a partial recovery compared to last year, where we closed the quarter at -56, it's +20%. Of course, this is mainly driven by the increase of rate of production on B787 I was mentioning earlier. Very, very important, this increase. It gives us much more workloads, it reduces the losses during the year. Cyber, +36%.
Again, this is an impact mainly of the additional scale, of increasing scales of Cyber because we are increasing revenues, but we are increasing cost, fixed cost mainly, and cost below the line much less compared to the increase of revenue. Plus 36%. Again, like last year, you may remember we got an excellent result also on that. Space, plus 100%. Here we have a strong performance of the service component. Like in line with the last year also, the payload and robotics business is performing very well, getting some important orders also on ESA, on some ESA activities. Of course, there is also a big difference deriving from the partial recovery of the loss of Thales Alenia Space.
It is still negative as expected, but it has reduced the loss compared to Q1 2025, and this of course, has led to an improvement of 100% compared to last year. Key message, ROS is improving across all the business. We are already double-digit in electronics, close to double-digit in aeronautics. Overall, very good result, very strong results. In line with our targets, we've been able to improve our free operating cash flow, which was, it is a key target for us. It is a key target also to make the negative trend over the first months much more linear over the year.
Free operating cash flow, in general, was up 30%, thanks to our operating performance, of course, but also to the actions we are doing on the working capital and on the effort that we are making to make this trend more linear. In both in terms of revenues, EBITA, and also FOCF, free operating cash flow. It is a strong increase. If we look at cash flow used in operating activities, you can better appreciate the improvement because we have EUR 0.2 billion in 2026 compared to EUR 0.4 billion, but this EUR 0.2 billion includes also the settlement of the NH90 litigation for which we had a cash out of EUR 100 million in the first quarter.
Otherwise, it would have been at around EUR 0.1 billion negative, a good improvement compared to Q1 2025. This is something we see across all the division. Back for a second to Aerostructure. We've seen the results in EBITA, which was in line with our estimates. Also, the cash drag from Aerostructure was in line with our expectation. Overall, again, a very strong results also in terms of free operating cash flow. Free operating cash flow that contributes to the increase of our net debt, which is increasing up to EUR 3 billion as expected, perfectly in line with our expectation.
Starting from 1, of course, we had EUR 0.4 of free operating, negative free operating cash flow, plus EUR 1.6 related to the closing of the acquisition of Iveco. EUR 3 billion group net debt, excluding the lease liabilities and loans from joint venture, our net debt is at around EUR 0.7, very strong balance sheet in our view, very disciplined approach to our capital allocation. We continue to see the progress, and we continue to see the results. These results have been, you know, well accepted also by our credit ratings. As said, Moody's has improved our rating to Ba2 with a positive outlook, and we have also positive outlook from Standard & Poor's, we will see in the future our possible potential additional improvements.
Therefore, if we look now for a second at the full year, what we see for the full year, we can confirm our guidance. I mean, the Q1 gives us a strong confidence in confirming our guidance for the full year with the new orders at EUR 25 billion, revenues at EUR 21 billion, EBITA at EUR 2.03 billion, with a free operating cash flow of EUR 1.1 billion, despite the settlement of the NH90 litigation I was mentioning earlier. We confirm our guidance. As said, we completed the acquisition of Iveco Defence Vehicles in the second half of March, so we are now also in a position to communicate preliminary add-ons.
To group results coming from the consolidation of Iveco Defence, we will consolidate, I said, profit and loss order and free operating cash flow starting from April 1st, 2026. You can see what we expect from IDV for these nine months. New orders at around EUR 1.2 billion. Revenue, EUR 1.1 billion. EBITA at EUR 0.12 billion, and free operating cash flow at EUR 0.22 billion. To conclude, very strong results, very good start of the year, very well on track to deliver our full year guidance and achieve our group results.
Thank you. Thank you, Roberto and Giuseppe. Let's open the Q&A session. The first question is coming from Sam Burgess from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Well, thank you for taking the question and good afternoon, Roberto and Giuseppe. Firstly, Roberto, I know I'll speak for many when I say I think you've done an excellent job at Leonardo, and I'm sure many will be sad to see you move on. Wishing you all the very best for whatever is next. With that said, my first question is that the Italian government has said Gulf countries have made urgent requests for air defense and anti-drone systems. Can you just help us understand if Leonardo and MBDA are seeing this translating into orders at this stage? What might the prioritization there look like relative to other customers? Secondly, I just wanna look at, talk about BMD Plus. Should we think about this as the sort of first major funded step in the broader Italian missile defense architecture?
In terms of the margin, as this comes through, should we expect it to be broadly in line with the electronics margin, even in the early phases of delivery? Thank you.
Okay. In order to give you a rather quantitative answer, I think we should wait and see what happens in the next say, weeks or just few months. On one hand, with respect to what Europe is doing and what is the relationship between the 3.1 versus 3% deficit ratio that apparently the country, and as far as we know, the 3% threshold has been missed by just a few decimal points. It's unclear what happens there, right?
Now to be very correct towards Leonardo, we should not never forget that we export 80% of our products, okay? In principle, we could say we are a world company, and therefore most of the market comes from export. And we could safely say that we are almost independent of the domestic fluctuation. However, as you know, it's very important when you sell defense platforms abroad that you show that your defense system has tested them already in-house. It's a sort of credit card that you get when you sell your products. This could be the only interplay that I see in case there will be a small reduction of investment in defense by the government.
Having said this, I would like to point out one thing. Our capital allocation has been done in a very safe and controlled way. For instance, for the Michelangelo Dome and what we call the air defense shield, most of the R&D is already included in our capital allocation. There is not so much new to develop, but electronics, command and control, and this is part of the organic growth of the company, thanks to our safe allocation. I'm still very positive towards the success of this initiative. I mean, of course, time matters a lot. As you've seen, after we announced the Michelangelo Dome, for instance, many other countries, many other companies, announced the kind of rebranding their existing products or moving on the external markets.
Our Michelangelo design team that goes around different countries to customize, the specific architecture to be developed, is supposed to be very busy. I think, we should not, or they should not miss even not 1 day starting from tomorrow, because here, we are in a rush, actually. The geopolitical situation imposes a pace, a rhythm that is not the usual one. I'm very optimistic. I would be very optimistic.
Thank you very much.
Welcome.
Okay. The second question is coming from Alessandro Pozzi from Mediobanca.
Hi, and thank you for taking my questions. I will go one by one, if it's okay with you. First one, for Roberto. In your opening remark, you mentioned continuity with the next management. I guess you had the handover, and I was wondering, if you can share what advice you've given to the next management, if any, and what you think are the key challenges, for Leonardo in its next phase of transformation.
I mean, we are in rather fortunate situation that the new president has been 3 years member of the board, so he participated very actively to the entire decisional process. He knows step by step how do we came to this point. You know, that makes a big difference compared to a president that is parachuted from the outside into the company. I'm sure this helps a lot in terms of continuity and knowledge of the structure. The CEO, as you know, was in the company for many, many years. We were working together for almost 2 years, so he knows very well people and structure. I believe continuity should not be a problem. The problem eventually is the competition abroad and the time to market.
I mean, all the usual, the daily challenges that Leonardo has to face in such a complex geopolitical situation. Having said this, of course, there will be some rearrangement. At the moment, the team is moving, the team that was working with me is moving, and therefore they have to recreate the team very soon to not lose one day of operational capability. Fortunately, there are very relatively young people that were operating with us in these three years, ready to jump and to work on all the different programs. I believe there is no real big problem. One thing that maybe should be addressed, this is something I discussed with my colleagues.
As you know, because of my background, I was operating like the kind of a Chief Technology Officer, not only a CEO, because of my background. If a profile like mine goes out, maybe they have to reinforce the technology, the Chief Technology Officer position that at the moment is vacant, because I was playing that role basically so far. I think this is okay, this is solvable. It's, we have to go on the market and see either internally or externally whether there are good candidates that can kind of coordinate the multi-mission idea underlying the industrial plan. It's something, I mean, in the end of the day it's a good difficulty. Finding good people shouldn't be a problem.
Thank you. My second question is on the guidance. I believe you mentioned that you could even raise guidance at this point, given the progress you've made. I was wondering, is there any KPI in particular or things are going way better compared to the initial expectations across order intake, EBITA and free cash flow and whether maybe there is any areas of particular strength, I guess, defense electronic may be one of them?
I leave the answer of course to Giuseppe because it will continue, and this will be his responsibility. Let me say one thing with the zero responsibility that I have because I'm leaving. Last time we were discussing whether we have to be prudent or we have to be kind of challenging, and we decided not to increase the guidance when the improvement of the KPI is below some few %. I would say this time is really very good in almost all KPIs. With the braveness that I can have because I'm leaving, I would have increased transversely the guidance. Of course, they need to be more prudent.
First of all, this is a responsibility the new CEO has to share and then, and he has to agree on that, and he has to make his analysis. Of course, we will, I think they will discuss this with the CFO, and they will make their choices. The numbers are all quite above the expectations, so in the end of the day, I think we could be optimistic.
Yeah.
I stop saying anything now.
The numbers are very, very good. Of course, it was a strong quarter. Of course, we need to factor a couple of things. The first one is that, you know, first quarter is the weakest contributor to the full year. Although it is very good, most of the activity has to be done over the last three quarters. It's a good, very good start, but it's a minor part of our path toward the full year guidance. We have also a number of plus and minus we need to access, mainly due to the geopolitical context. Of course, for a prudent view also in the light of the exchange Roberto was mentioning, I think overall, starting from where we are now, it is a still balanced situation versus the guidance.
Of course, if you look at the orders, we are already at EUR 9 billion, it is a particularly good performance. Again, keep in mind that orders are not linear, we knew that the first quarter would have been the best quarter maybe at the beginning of the year, we have to do lots of things to get the guidance. We are optimistic. We look at the guidance in an optimistic way. That will be a task for the new board of directors, keeping in mind all this.
Just to follow up on this, I've seen the margin effect is fairly large, about EUR 59 million, much larger than the volume effect. Can you say perhaps where, what is the main driver of that? Thank you, and that's the last one, I promise.
I think, you saw it very well when you look at the split by sector, I think in increasing scale without increasing, you know, fixed cost, it's helping us a lot. We're improving marginality because we're increasing the scale. Also, of course, we are continuing our saving plan. Of course, we are not increasing fixed cost in a way which is comparable to the increase of revenue. Increasing from scales, benefiting from the saving plan we set a couple of years ago. Global contribution overall is improving everywhere, very solid program performance, which is, at the end, the main driver. I think we are performing very well on programs, this is a clear outcome of the actions we have been doing over the last years.
Okay, thank you. The next question comes from Ross Lowe from Morgan Stanley.
Hi. Afternoon, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions, and I'll start by reiterating Sam's earlier thoughts. Wishing you all the very best for the future, Roberto. The first question is on Iveco, and thanks for 2026 contribution guidance. I know you don't wanna give new group medium-term guidance, but maybe you can provide a bit more color on what you think Iveco could contribute medium term. Should we use Iveco's 2024 CMD outlook as a guide, or is it better, given developments since 2024? Secondly, just on order intake, specifically with the Turkey Typhoon contract, it doesn't look like this was included in Q1. Some of your peers have recorded it, can I just get an update on when you expect to record this? Thank you.
Okay. On IDV, you see the contribution for 2026. We are still working on the entire plan. Of course, it will be again a task to be done together with the new board of directors to understand how to implement the entire plan of Iveco Defence Vehicles. Above all, fully leverage on the synergies we can produce putting together Leonardo and IDV. It is something we will update during the year based on the progress of this analysis. You can see already that we expect a good profitability overall, 11% return on sales on the 9 months 2026, this is something we expect also over the plan. We think, you know, the acquisition of IDV will be accretive standalone, also including the synergies we can generate over the plan.
We will update on the entire plan, but we see a very positive situation. Regarding Turkey, it is not on Q1 orders, of course. You know that there is a time to flow down the orders from the prime to the subcos. We are working on that, but I confirm it is not on Q1 orders.
Okay. Thank you.
Thanks very much.
Thank you. The next one is coming from Sash Tusa of Agency Partners.
Thank you very much indeed. Good afternoon. I've just got two questions. One, can you confirm that the IDV backlog has gone into Defence Electronics and Security? If that, if that's the case, is that where you expect IDV to remain, or will you eventually report it as a standalone business? Because clearly it's broadly similar size to two of your smaller divisions. Then, the second question on your broader ambitions in air defense, and particularly Michelangelo Dome. What are the terms under which you can get access to the SAMP/T missile system and in particular the effectors, given that that is a joint venture comprised of MBDA and your rival Thales in the Eurosam teaming. Can you get access to SAMP/T on same conditions that Thales does, or do they have a structural advantage because of the Eurosam teaming? Thank you.
Okay. On IDV, yeah, I confirm it is inside the backlog of electronic defense. For the future, I mean, I think that will be one of the items to be analyzed by the new board of directors. Of course, it has to do with the organizational issues. It's analysis, it's an analysis that of course we will do. At the moment it is included in the electronic defense, and clearly the portion which is, which has more synergy with IDV is inside, is currently inside electronic defense.
Great.
Can I-
Thanks.
I mean, even though it will not be my business, you have to consider historically that Oto Melara, so the remaining part of the land defense developed by Leonardo is inside the electronic division. Now, we might argue for the future, that was something we were discussing, by the way. We might argue that Iveco Defence plus Oto Melara is getting so big that possibly it's in itself could be a sort of land division. We have to see the industrial synergy. They have to see a number of industrial parameters. It has to be convenient eventually to carve out from the division, creating a new division. Clearly, the critical mass of land defense now is much bigger than 1 year ago, where the Oto Melara only could not be enough for a division. It was just a sort of line of business. Though this will not be my business, but I believe it's important.
Yeah
show that how much bigger it became, the entire land defense landscape in Leonardo. About the SAMP/T and the effectors, let me tell you something. I mean, obviously, we expect to have some preferential access to SAMP/T because we participate into the MBDA and so on and so forth. However, the important point is that Michelangelo is effector agnostic. has been conceived not to be specifically dedicated to one effector. Of course, we like to have a sort of homemade effectors or at least participated effectors. we have already started discussions with other producers outside Europe or not only in Europe to see whether other missiles can be used in their defense shield. This is because Michelangelo is the only effector agnostic system that you can think of.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Welcome.
Thank you. Next question is coming from Benjamin Heelan of from Bank of America.
Afternoon, guys. Thank you for the question. I think you made some comments on the Aerostructures discussions. Could you just give us a bit more color? Where are you on that? Is there any timeline or probability that you can give around that deal coming to fruition? Secondly, could you give us an update of where we are on the joint venture with Rheinmetall on the land side, and when can we see orders on that? Finally, just an update on the Global Combat Program. There were some articles about the U.K. struggling in the short term with some funding. I was just wondering if has that impacted the development timeline at all, if there's any update there. Thank you.
Wait. Okay. I'll start telling you something.
Aerostructure.
Okay. Go. Aerostructure. Go, go.
Okay. Aerostructure, I mean, as we said in March, there is an important outstanding issue with the potential partner that you may remember we cannot name. It was related to the funding of the local activities which need to be done to implement, to fully implement the business plan and the JV. I think they are still working internally on that. They are discussing, an essential part of this plan is the funding agreement and the funding they need to get from their country. It's a work they are done from their side. We are not part of this discussion. As we said, we set a window, a summer window to have-
June 30th
a go, no-go decision. They are saying that their analysis will be, you know, consistent with the summer deadline. We will see when they have the results of this analysis. Of course, we can imagine also that it may be somehow affected by the situation in some of the countries of the world.
There we go. Which was the next one? GCAP? About GCAP, yeah, we heard about, we read on the news actually, about the momentary difficulty in the U.K. for funding the program. I believe this is a 10-year program, so it will be. We should not make a, how to say, fast decision based on a momentary difficulty. All the partners are working and, last but not least, this is the only one sixth-generation fighter program left in the world. I think it would be a big mistake to abandon because one of the partners has a momentary difficulty. This can happen to any partner any time I believe that the rationale for continuing insisting, trying harder on the GCAP, is by far more important than, you know, the momentary difficulty.
Very, yeah, very important to add that, we got the first order at Edgewing, the first international contract, at the end of March.
Yeah.
It's GBP 0.8 billion. Coming from the international portion, funded by all of the three countries. It was a very important milestone to progress on the activities, which are being made by Edgewing.
Yeah, in the end of the day, it's more likely to have a slight delay in the program rather than a stop. Because stopping would be a big mistake in that all the others have already stopped. I think we should make an effort. There was a third question.
Can you repeat it?
Yeah, there was. I asked on the Leonardo Rheinmetall venture.
yes.
The agenda of the Leonardo Rheinmetall?
Joint venture.
Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, this is operating. So far, it's operating on time. The infantry vehicles have been delivered on time. There is a second slot coming. Most of the work done on the big tanks is still dealing with the integration. Basically, integration means the payload produced by Leonardo for the turret should be integrated in the chassis of the Panther, and the teams are working. They're still working on the integration. Right now we don't see specific issues. Of course we are monitoring continuously.
Okay, great. Thank you.
Welcome.
Thank you. The next question comes from Martino De Ambroggi from Equita.
Thank you. Good afternoon, everybody. First of all, it was a pleasure to work with you, Roberto, and all the best. Number one on IDV, because the free cash flow that you are providing for the nine months is quite sizable compared to the size of the company. I just wonder if it's something exceptional this year or it is a business, probably not recurring because I knew this business inside IDV was not clear. Obviously, the standalone free cash flow, seems quite important. Still on IDV, could you quantify what is the portion of the business that you are proposing in figures today, which is part of the potential acquisition from Rheinmetall?
Yeah. Relating to the first question, of course, when we say the cash flow is seasonal in defense, it's true for everyone. Of course, you know, excluding the first quarter from the numbers leads you to a very good nine-month results. But just because, you know, you are excluding the first quarter, which was heavily negative in Iveco like in every company in aerospace and defense. This is not, you know, fully an indicator of the full year free operating cash flow of IDV because that will be, you know, also affected by the negative results in the first month. You see only the more positive part of the year, of course.
Could I ask you what would be the pro forma full year?
You know we don't give guidance on each component of the free operating cash flow, but the first quarter was heavily negative. If you look at the 2025 results under the Iveco control, it was not our responsibility. It was in the range of EUR 160, EUR 150.
Okay. The portion of the business, to be acquired by-
The portion of the business, in the 9 months, you know, on revenues, we see that the balance between trucks and armored and multi-role vehicles is not stable because of course the reversal of backlog in trucks is much faster than in armored vehicles. If we look at those 9 months, the ratio is around 60/40%. Of course, if you look at the margins, we get back probably to the split we gave in the past of 70/30%.
Okay, thank you. Last on the aerostructure, what is the cash burn embedded in your full-year guidance very roughly compared to the EUR 200 million absorbed last year?
We assume that it will be negative again. The EBIT was around EUR -80 million in the year, plus some investment. It's more than EUR 100 of cash drag in the year.
Okay.
It's above the 100.
Very last. Okay, very last on the GCAP, that you commented before. Maybe new entries, is a possible way to go ahead quicker?
You know, from an industry perspective, new countries could, you know, open new markets in the future. Of course, it is more a political discussion rather than a discussion between industries.
Governmental decision.
Yeah, governmental decision.
I mean, from our side, since the very beginning, we were open to any expansion of the consortium, as long as there was a clear technical contribution, not only financial.
Yeah.
This is ultimately, a political decision. We expressed in more than one occasion that we would agree in widening the team, but it's just a technical position.
Yeah.
Thank you very much.
Welcome.
Thank you. The next question comes from Sebastian Groh from BNP Paribas.
Hi, Claudio. Hi, Giuseppe and Piero Vesco. Thanks for taking my question. It's only one really that's remaining, and it's around the DRS segment. Apparently, the segment started the year much stronger than expected, especially from a margin perspective. I was just wondering what drove really this material margin improvement, both in the European business that was up about 100 basis points, and then also DRS at almost up 200 basis points. The two questions related to this are simply, can you provide any color around how we should think about the mix component in the quarter? How would you assess on the quality in the order book on how it might differ from what we have seen in the first quarter? Thank you.
Yeah. I think it's a mix of positive items. I said the first one is, you know, the program performance, so that it was very good. This is the main driver together, of course, with the increasing of scale. Because I said we are increasing revenues, but not increasing fixed costs and the cost below the margin in a way which is comparable to the increase of revenue. We are benefiting from the additional scales we are able to get. From this point of view, you know, the commercial momentum is key because we see that there are prospects, there are opportunities, and it is a good, very good sign for the future development of electronic defense.
In the comparison, you may also remember when looking at DRS that last year it was somehow affected by some issues relating to some specific programs and some cost impact on rare materials. In the difference, you see also the impact of that. Overall, DRS as well is performing very well. You may have seen that they are slightly revising their guidance for the full year. Very small number. We are talking about between $5 million and $10 million of additional EBITDA, a very small improvement, but of course this is a clear sign of how positive they see the rest of the year.
Okay. That's helpful.
Okay.
Thank you. All the best, Roberto.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is coming from David Perry from J.P. Morgan.
Hi, Roberto and Giuseppe. Roberto, I don't want to embarrass you further, congrats on a good job. You're the ninth Leonardo CEO in the time I've covered the stock. You are definitely the best. I've got two questions. Giuseppe, I'm sorry, I think you may have answered this, I couldn't follow all of an earlier answer. Have you said or given a rough guide on which part of Iveco you are going to sell? Cause we're adding some numbers to this year, are we gonna take a chunk of that back out next year? We just wanted some clarity on that. Roberto, if I can ask you an unfair question, what as you leave, what do you think is the biggest opportunity for Leonardo to improve its performance?
You've made a lot of progress, but I still think the company is some way behind some of its peers in some of its financial metrics. Be curious what advice you might have for your successor.
Yeah. The relating to IDV consolidation, the numbers you have seen, we presented for the full year include also the track portion, which is the one which may be potentially under discussion for a future disposal, but, you know, it's just one of the options. I will say that we will sell. I will say that it is one of the option. Of course, you know that there was a discussion, there is a discussion with Rheinmetall in place, but, you know, the outcome, we will see, we will evaluate the best option, and we will see at the end of this process.
For the time being, we are consolidating 100% of the IDV perimeter, including the track business, and we will see the outcome of this discussion and potential negotiation. Also together with the assessment of synergies that Roberto was saying. Of course, we will do the best thing from a value perspective, and we will decide.
David, thank you, yeah, first of all for your words, and second for the question. I believe that number 1, Leonardo must learn to believe in itself. It's a problem mindset. For that you know, to change the culture of the company, of course, we need a bit of time, a bit more time. At the moment, we do have one of the most complete portfolios in the world, and for sure the most complete in terms of nature, services, digital, softwares, hardwares, and platforms.
Now, if we understand that this is a plus, and it is a competitive gap compared to the others, we have to make our best effort to take advantage of this unique capability. Changing the mindset, believing in ourselves. Second, Leonardo should start behaving like a truly multinational company, not a domestic company. This is also a change of mindset, but I believe we should have the courage to say, "Okay, we produce the best product. We invest in R&D, and we risk." This is the company risk. We invest in R&D. We don't stop making innovation. If the products are better than the others, we prevail on the market. I would have a third longer term vision.
I mean, we're getting a lesson whenever there is a war, whenever there's a conflict, whenever there is a problem, we end up on energy. I mean, this is crazy. Look at the almost Gulf, the almost shrinkage crisis, price of gas and price of petrol goes up. Look at the Ukraine, gas price was up, and then electricity is up. The national security of the entire world is at risk. If Leonardo will be a real global security company, I think it should have the duty to develop advanced technology for modular nuclear reactors for generators, for generation. You might say, "But this is too long.
This is a lot of investment." Yes, you are right, somebody has to do it. Otherwise, we will never be really independent, and I think it's crazy. It's a suicide policy, the one that, as you see, after a conflict, we go back and say, "Okay, from where do we buy gas? From where do we buy petrol?" I mean, I believe this is gonna be the biggest threat to the global security, especially in the Western countries. I believe Leonardo would have all the capability, all the technology, the industrial capability to launch maybe a new co participated by Leonardo with other investors to do something serious in the field. It's very difficult. If this were easy, somebody else would have done it already.
I believe many companies in the gravity field of defense are thinking in this direction. Mindset, R&D, taking advantage of the unique software, hardware capability and servitization of the products, for the mid to long term, maybe energy security becoming the most important energy platform for the future. That's all.
Thank you. Excellent answer.
We have a last question from Afonso Osorio from Barclays.
Hello. Yes, thank you. Roberto, just wanted to reiterate what all my peers have said, wishing you all the best for what comes next into your career. I have a few questions if I can, last ones. The first one is very quick on the cash payment for the NH90 settlement. I see this is included in the cash flow this quarter. Just wanted to confirm if that's the full payment or if there's more to come later on this year. The second question on Aerostructures. Again, I appreciate you just mentioned that the summer deadline is broadly unchanged here, but just wondering if you can comment on the size of this new venture.
I believe you had said before that this would be a much, much bigger and larger venture, so it would be interesting for me to know the size of the new partnership you're forming here. Thank you.
Yeah. On NH90, it was not a full payment, but most of the outcome of the litigation has been paid. I think we miss something like EUR 10 million or EUR 15 million still to pay in Q2, but most of it was paid in Q1.
The latest information we have, as we mentioned before, our partners is now negotiating internally ministerial incentives for the creation of the new international joint venture. Okay, we don't touch the ball there. We are looking forward what will happen. However, we were told that the window of the law for the ministerial incentives will be closed end of June, beginning of July. Inherently, they have to make a decision, giving us a response because otherwise they will shut the door, they'll shut the window, and there will be no more incentive law in that country.
With this in mind, it's very important to know that the standalone plan of Leonardo has been done, approved by the parties, and it's very good, very convenient. We, in turn, approved their standalone part of the plan. Industrially, everything has been agreed. Even financially, everything has been agreed. We could start tomorrow. The point is that the counterpart said we need to have an incentive from the minister because otherwise there will be no ministerial presence in their team, let's say. I believe this is more a sort of inter-internal political organization. The deadline that they confirmed just a few days ago still stands at the end of June, beginning of July.
We know that the situation in the Gulf is difficult, but I don't think this is gonna change the deadline of their incentive law. We will look forward to seeing what happens, but this is the situation at the moment.
If I can quickly follow up on, given that we're talking about timelines for the deal with Rheinmetall with Oto Melara, is there a new message you want to send across by June still, or can that slip into the second half?
I mean, we stay on the deadline, and I believe we are focused on the end of the first semester. We didn't get any counter signal about that. We have no reason to expect a shift. I mean, that would be really negative also for us. Now give us 1 week to fix the change of top management. I'm sure that our people will fly again there and press the institution to see what happens. This has been done till few weeks ago. We are really riding the horse at the moment. I don't think anybody wants to delay.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Rheinmetall.
Sorry. Wait a minute. Maybe I didn't get. The question was on Rheinmetall?
yes.
I gave you an answer about.
No. No. Okay.
The question was on.
On Aerostructure
on Aerostructure, am I right?
I thought it was about the Rheinmetall.
I lost it.
Yes, we lost the line.
Okay.
Thank you all. We are now closing our Q&A session. Thank you to Roberto, and thank you to Giuseppe. The IR team is any way open to any follow-up. Thank you. Have a nice evening. Bye.