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The Board of Directors of Finmeccanica, convened under the chairmanship of Gianni De Gennaro, examined and unanimously approved the draft of Group consolidated and Finmeccanica S.p.A. financial statements at 31 December 2014.
In 2014, the performance of the Finmeccanica Group underwent a significant turnaround, with results reported being considerably above expectations and as compared with the previous year, in all aspects, particularly in terms of commercial performance and profitability, with growth of more than 20% in EBITA as compared with 2013 and improvement in both EBIT and in the net result before extraordinary transactions of over EUR 700 million as compared with 2013.
In addition, positive developments were seen even into the early months of 2015, during which an important agreement was reached with Hitachi, enabling the Group to exit the Transportation sector, which heavily contributed to Finmeccanica’s overall negative results in recent years. This agreement, signed on February 24 2015, requires that Finmeccanica transfers its stake in Ansaldo STS (equal to 40% of the share capital) and AnsaldoBreda’s businesses in the rolling stock segment (excluding certain small scale revamping activities, which will remain within the Group) to Hitachi. Finmeccanica will receive a payment of around EUR 810 million, subject to a price adjustment, which is at present expected to reduce the Group’s net debt by approximately 500 million, together with further benefits arising from the deconsolidation of the higher debt such activities would have generated in 2015, amounting to additional 100 million.
The exit from the Transportation sector, beside allowing the businesses sold to become part of a global group with expertise in their sectors, will make it possible for Finmeccanica to focus its resources on the core Aerospace, Defence & Security sectors, in accordance with the strategic guidelines set out in the 2015-2019 Industrial Plan approved by the new Board of Directors on 27 January 2015. The Plan, envisaging an aggressive turnaround from the past, aims at:
– industrial strengthening, to be achieved both by cutting costs and, in particular, enhancing the efficiency of key industrial processes (engineering, supply chain and production) and, at the same time, by creating a portfolio of products able to expand the Group’s expertise and reduce the spreading of resources among non-profitable, non-core activities;
– development, to be achieved by focusing on Aerospace, Defence & Security activities, rationalizing the product portfolio and carrying out a strategic repositioning in the core sectors in which the Group’s expertise is greatest, achieving stronger integration and increasing internationalisation.
For the execution of this Plan, on which the Group will focus its efforts during 2015, a key step is the implementation of the new Group organisational and operating model.
The new model, presented to the Board of Directors in June 2014, marks a moment of strong discontinuity as regards the organisation and the mission assigned to Finmeccanica and represents an essential element in the transformation Finmeccanica has embarked upon: that is from a holding company managing a number of legally separate operating companies to one single company. As an industrial player, the new Finmeccanica will have full control over its operating activities, being able to manage the industrial processes, relations with clients and supply chain in a more integrated manner, as well as to manage investments under a more dynamic and effective approach, with greater technology and product transfer within the Group. The Group will also be able to compete in an increasingly complex global market, starting with a more balanced capital structure.
More specifically, the 2014 results (which also include the contribution of the Transportation sector activities covered by the above agreement) show:
– New orders: amounted to EUR 15,619 million, up over 2013 by 560 million and beating original expectations by more than 2 billion.
– Order backlog: amounting to EUR 38,234 million, over two and a half years of equivalent production for the Group.
– Revenues: amounted to EUR 14,663 million, +7.1% compared to 2013.
– EBITA: positive EUR 1,080 million, significantly improved (+23%) compared to positive 878 million of 2013 and more than 10% higher than expected. EBITA above 1 billion in the Aerospace, Defence & Security business.
– EBIT: positive EUR 692 million, compared to negative 14 million of 2013, following the improvement in EBITA and driven by considerable decline in restructuring costs and, in particular, non-recurring items.
– Net result before extraordinary transactions: positive, for the first time since 2010, EUR 70 million with an improvement of 719 million compared with negative 649 million in 2013.
– Net result: positive EUR 20 million, despite a loss in the amount of 50 million as a result of the Group’s withdrawal from the bus segment in the Transportation sector. The positive 74 million in 2013 benefitted from earnings generated by the disposal of Ansaldo Energia and Avio’s engine business, for a total of 723 million.
– Group net debt: amounted to EUR 3,962 million in line with the 2013 level.
– Free Operating Cash Flow (FOCF): negative EUR 137 million, improved by 83 million compared to negative 220 million in 2013 and above expectations, despite the enforcement of the guarantees related to the Indian contract in the Helicopters sector (256 million). Net of this enforcement the FOCF would have been positive EUR 119 million, with a cash generation in Aerospace, Defence & Security above 350 million.
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