FINMECCANIA PROFITS DOWN 19%
29 Jul 09. The Board of Directors approved first-half results.
Highlights
Revenues rise 32%.
New orders up 22%.
Adjusted EBITA rises (+51%).
Net profit, excluding extraordinary transactions, in
line with that of first half 2008.
Revenues rose 32% to EUR 8,523m from EUR 6,433m in the same period in 2008.
Adjusted EBITA increased to EUR 605m, up 51% on the same period in 2008. The adjusted EBITA margin was 7.1%.
Net profit was EUR 242m, in line with that of the same period last year, excluding extraordinary operations that boosted profit in the first half 2008.
New orders totalled EUR 8,327m, up 22% overall relative to 1H08. Defence and Security Electronics registered significant growth, thanks in part to the sizeable contribution of DRS, although the civil aeronautics and helicopters sectors registered a slight decline, as forecasted.
The order backlog was EUR 42,980m and represents more than 2.5 years of production.
Net debt came in at EUR 4,615m, up EUR 1,232m compared with 31 December 2008. This performance reflects normal seasonality in the
productive cycle and typical receipts for the Group’s companies.
FOCF (EUR -695m) showed a 48% improvement on the EUR -1,347m recorded in 1H08.
Research and development costs rose by 6%, equal to about 10% of revenues.
Pier Francesco Guarguaglini, Chairman and Chief Executive of Finmeccanica, commented: “Our first-half results are in line with forecasts and enable us to confirm guidance for 2009. We have achieved growth in all main financial indicators thanks in part to the contribution of our recent acquisition in the US, DRS Technologies, whose results confirm the wisdom of the initiative. The success of our strategy is also due to the regional diversification of our businesses; outside our traditional domestic markets (Italy, the UK and the US) we are extending our commercial interests to countries in the Mediterranean area, which offer interesting growth opportunities. We have recently won major contracts in Libya, Egypt, Morocco and Algeria, in addition to countries where our presence is well established, such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Yemen.”
Key figures for DRS in the period under review are set out below purely for informational reasons:
DRS Technologies EUR m
New orders 1,959
Revenues 1,466
Adjusted EBITA 176
Net profit 62
FOCF 15
In the first half of 2009, Finmeccanica Group revenues totalled EUR8,523m, up from EUR 6,433m in the first half 2008, an increase of EUR2,090m (+32%). The increase was driven by various sectors: Helicopters, thanks to increased activity in both helicopter operations and product support;
Defence and Security Electronics, which includes the EUR1,466m contribution of DRS and, relative to the same period last year, recorded growth in avionics and electro-optics as well as in command and control systems; Aeronautics, due to the increased contribution of the military segment and in particular activities related to EFA and trainer aircraft; Energy, thanks both to work on plant-related orders and short-term (flow) orders (i.e. parts, upgrades and maintenance); and Transport, due mainly to the effect of increased activity in signalling and transport systems.
Adjusted EBITA for the half-year was EUR 605m, up from EUR400m in 1H 2008, an increase of EUR205m (+51%).
The adjusted EBITA margin (ROS) was 7.1%, up 0.9 p.p. compared with the first half of 2008.
Net profit was EUR242m compared with EUR297m in the first half of 2008, down EUR55m (19%). Excluding a gain of EUR54m on the disposal of 26 million shares of STMicroelectronics, which boosted net profit in the first half 2008, net profit for the first six months of this year was in line with the first half of 2008.
Net debt stood at EUR4,615m, up EUR1,232m on the EUR3,383m recorded at 31
December 2008. The figure reflects normal performance in terms of