Leonardo Spa Ord

Welcome, everybody. My name is Claudia Introvigne. I'm responsible for investor relation and market analysis here in Leonardo. Today, we are here to present our first quarter results for 2026, and I'm really pleased to have here with me our CEO, Roberto Cingolani, and our CFO, Giuseppe Aurelio. So 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, so I will leave Leonardo tomorrow. So, at that occasion, 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 have 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, and the updated plan, we've got very good and encouraging results. The order backlog has been rising to 57 billion, plus 23% versus 2025. The book-to-bill ratio is two. And the new orders amount to $9 billion, so plus 31% year over year. Revenues increased to $4.5 billion, plus 6.9% year over year. EBITDA growing by 32%, up to $281 million. The adjusted net result is $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 411 million. The workforce has been increased by 5,600 units, and we have reached now more than 65,000 people in Leonardo Global. This data does not include the upside given by the acquisition of Iveco Defense, which has been, however, estimated as remarkable, Giuseppe will tell you more later. I mean, frankly, you guys, the numbers are very good, and the upside of IDV is very promising, so we could have even proposed an upgrading in guidance, but because tomorrow we will have the new CEO, I think, for fairness, we'll leave this choice to the next top management, but 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 32 billion order, 30 billion revenues, 3.6 billion EBITDA, 12% return on sales, more than 2 billion free operating cash flow. This is in 2030. 2030. So this follows the already positive three-year trend that we registered during the mandate. I just want to remind you that in the last three 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 25, were increasing from 290 kilo-euro per headcount pre-COVID to 320 kilo-euro per headcount last year. The share value was growing from 10 to 64 maximum about one month ago. Market cap from 4.6 billion to 34 billion. That was under control. The free operating cash flow exceeded 1 billion for the first time in 2025. It was a psychological target almost, but very meaningful. And the margins are moving towards double digit through all the company, which was our main commitment since the very beginning. Which were the guidelines for our operations over the mandate? The first one was what we define bullets and bites, 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 the, to contrast the fragmentation of the European defense space, and also major acquisition in big collaborations among industries. The third guideline was moving quickly from conventional defense to global security, not only military deterrence, but also cyber security, space security, so space observation, infrastructure security, Energy security is 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 one terabyte per headcount memory and .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. Then the efficiency plan, because the demand of defense was growing because of the tremendous geopolitical situation, more than 60 conflicts on the planet. So we're working actively, we have been working actively in improving efficiency in production. And then, 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 unmanaged system in all domains. Today, all our platforms, LAN, C, Air, have the unmanaged counterpart of any managed 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 23. primarily with the disciplinary 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 Mergent Acquisition marked the difference with the past. Land Defense had a new impulse through the collaboration with the joint venture with Rheinmetall, collaboration with KMDS, EVECO Defense acquisition, the recent one. Vicar 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 del Legionari, the new models. So this will be after a few months, the collaborative drone venture started, will be an interesting inauguration. Even IVD, IVD, 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 the Eurofighter, the 346 and the Eurofighter, also has incorporated the aerostructure, and we've been working a lot to create an international JV on aerostructures, which is finally at reach. And 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'll 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 one billion-year self-funded R&D, in addition to the customer-funded two billions 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 that's called bullet-and-bite vision. Both very timely in the current geopolitical scenario. Any short-term margin optimization through R&DCAT 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, through 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, hopefully, for your support. Bye-bye.

Thank you, Roberto. And 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 year. So thank you, Roberto. So back to Q1. It was a very strong start of the year, as Roberto said. So outstanding performance in all of our KPIs. Plus 30%, around plus 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. So again, strong start of the year. In the quarter, we completed also the acquisition of Iveco Defense. with a total consideration of 1.6 billion. EDV is not in the numbers we were discussing earlier. It was consolidated for the balance sheet and for the backlog, but for all the other flows, so income statement and cash flow, it will be consolidated starting April the 1st, 2026. Third point, very important, progress in the credit ratings. We have improved our rating with Moody's from BAE3 to BAE2, maintaining also a positive outlook. So good prospects for the future. And at the same time, Southern Pools confirmed the current rating, but improving the outlook to positive from stable. So this is a very important acknowledgement of the progress we have made from a differential standpoint. So Q1 results, Roberto has gone through them, just a couple of points. Again, orders were up to $9 billion in Q1 2026, so plus more than 30% plus than last year. Revenues were up by 7%. Again, it's 10% excluding the negative impact 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, and free operating cash flow is negative, as it is usually in our business, and it is expected, but much less compared to the past. So plus 30%, it is an important result of our effort to make the trend much more linear over the year, also negative in the first quarter. So 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 57 billion. So it's more or less 2.5 years of production, including also the backlog coming from IDV, which is something close to 6 billion. If we look at each sector, you see that the progress is spread over all the business. So 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 $9 billion is also driven by a couple of big orders. I want to remind the NMH order in helicopters. for AW149 for the UK Armed Forces, which was a very important order for us. It was an important milestone, so very important to get it ready in the first quarter. And 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. So a couple of big orders driving up to 9 billion, but all the sectors improving. Defense electronics has improved significantly compared to last year. 20% if we look at electronics Europe. Whereas 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. So the trend of DRS is very positive. We will see when commenting revenues and debit pay again. Helicopters, as said, the performance is outstanding, of course, driven by the order for NMH, but also Q1 2085 has 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 M346, but we have also a number of very good success. We have IFA order from Germany and Italy and also C27J contract for logistics support for the Italian Air Force. So very good results, and very good results also from our structure. We will see better when talking about the revenues and the pay, but we see an increase of workloads, which is the key matrix for this division. Cyber and space, 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 two times. So very important. It's a total backlog of $57 billion. Revenues. So let's talk about the execution of this contract. Up by 10%, excluding the negative translation of dollars, with improvements across all the business and all the divisions. So 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, so very good improvement, additional scale. Leonardo DRS, you see a red number, but just because of the negative exchange difference. Otherwise, it will be a growth of 6%. So performing very well, driven by RADA and Columbia Marine Plus programs. Helicopters, we are growing at a lower rate compared to the overall growth rate of the group, so around 3.8%, but 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. So very good performance, very solid performance in aeronautics based on our core program, so GCAP, IFA, M346, and C27J. Aerostructure, as I said, we see a big increase. Of course, this is mainly due to the increased rate of production on B7A7, You may remember that in Q1 2025, the rate of production was around four deliveries per month. We started the year 2026 with seven. Now we are at eight. So the increasing rate of production is driving additional revenues and improving the results of our structure. Okay. Cyber security and space, again, as we've seen for others, 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 SAP com business and satellite systems and operations mainly. So very good performance in terms of revenues. well on track to deliver our full year guidance. And now let's focus on EBITDA where we see the outstanding results up 33% compared to Q1 2025. And 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%. And 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. So, starting from defense electronics, which was the biggest contributor to this increase. plus 20% on a year-on-year basis compared to Q1 2025. If we look at the different components, you know that inside the EBITDA of electronics defense, we have four building blocks. We have Electronics Europe, we have Leonardo DRS, and we have the contribution from MBDA and ENSULT only at EBITDA level. So if we look at this breakdown, you can see that electronics Europe has grown up by 25%. So outstanding results. Ross already in double digit starting Q1. That's a result that usually we get later in the year. This year in 2026, we are already double digit in electronics Europe in Q1. So very important. DRS has improved by 15%. despite it was affected by around 10 million of negative exchange differences. So otherwise, the improvement would have been much higher. And again, they are running at around 10% return on sales. So they are closing the year at 9.8%, with a big improvement compared to last year, where they closed the quarter at 8.2%. Aircrafts. Aircraft, again, very solid performance driven by the programs I was remembering earlier. So plus 20% in terms of EBITDA compared to Q1 2025. Return on sale close to double digit already in Q1. So very good quarter also for aircraft. Air structure, as you can see, is negative, of course, minus 45. But we see a partial recovery compared to last year, where we closed the quarter minus 56. So it's plus 20%. And, of course, this is mainly driven by the increase of the rate of production on B7A7 I was mentioning earlier. very very important this increase it gives us much more workloads and so it reduces the losses during the year cyber plus 36 percent so 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. So 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 last year, also the payload and robotics Business is performing very well, getting some important orders also on some ESA activities. But, of course, there is also a big difference deriving from the partial recovery of the loss of the linear space. So 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. So 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 results, very strong results. And in line with our targets, we've been able to improve our free operating cash flow. which was a key target for us. It is a key target also to make the negative trend over the first nine months much more linear over the year. So 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, both in terms of revenues, EBITDA, and also FOX, pre-operating cash flow. So it is a strong increase, and if we look at cash flow used in operating activities so you can better appreciate the improvement because we have 0.2 billion in 2026 compared to 0.4 but this 0.2 billion includes also the settlement of the nh90 litigation for which we had a cash out of 100 million in the first quarter. So otherwise, it would have been around 0.1 billion negative, so a good improvement compared to V1 2025. And again, this is something we see across all the division. And back for a second to air structure, we've seen the results in EBITDA, which was in line with our estimates. Also, the cash drag from air structure was in line with our expectation. So overall, again, a very strong result 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 3 billion as expected, so perfectly in line with our expectation. Starting from one, of course, we had 0.4 of negative free operating cash flow plus 1.6 related to the closing of the acquisition of IVECO. So 3 billion group net debt, excluding the lease liabilities and the loans from joint venture, our net debt is around 0.7. So 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. And these results have been, you know, well accepted also by our credit ratings. As I said, Moody's has improved our rating to BAE2 with a positive outlook, and we have also positive outlook from Standard & Poor's, so we will see in the future our possible potential additional improvements. And 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 strong confidence in confirming our guidance for the full year with the new orders at $25 billion. Revenues at 21 billion, EBITDA at 2.03 billion, with a free operating cash flow 1.1, despite the settlement of the NH90 litigation I was mentioning earlier. So, we confirm our guidance. As I said, we completed the acquisition of Iveco Defense Vehicle in the second half of March, so we are now also in a position to continue communicate preliminary add-ons to group results coming from the consolidation of Iveco Defense. We will consolidate, as I said, profit and loss order and free operating cash flow starting from April 1st, 2026. And you can see what we expect from IDV for these nine months. So new orders at around $1.2 billion, revenue $1.1 billion, EBITDA at 0.12 billion and free operating cash flow at 0.22 billion. So, 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. So 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, but 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 defence and anti-drone systems. Can you just help us understand if Leonardo and MBDA are seeing this translating into orders at this stage, and what might the prioritization there look like relative to other customers? And secondly, I just want to talk about BMD+. Should we think about this as the sort of first major funded step in the broader Italian missile defense architecture? And 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 – 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, as far as we know, the 3% threshold has been missed by just a few decimal points, so it's unclear what happens there. Now, to be very correct towards Leonardo, we should never forget that we export 80% of our products, okay? So, 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 most independent of the domestic . 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. So 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 just 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 in our capital allocation. There's 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 Michelangelo Dome, for instance, many of the 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 in different countries to customize products the specific architecture to be developed. It's supposed to be very busy, so I think we should not, they should not miss it, and not one day starting from tomorrow, because here we are in a rush, actually, and the geopolitical situation imposes a pace, a rhythm that is not the usual one. But I'm very optimistic. I will be very optimistic.

Thank you very much.

Welcome.

Okay, the second question is coming from Alessandro Posti from Mediobanca.

Hi, and thank you for taking my questions. I will go one by one, if it's okay with you. First one, Roberto, in your opening remark, you mentioned continuity with the next management, and 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 do you think are the key challenges for Leonardo in his next phase of transformation?

I mean, we are in a rather fortunate situation that the new president has been three years member of the board. So he participated very actively to the entire decision process. He knows step by step how do we came to this point. And, you know, that makes a big difference compared to a president that is parachuted from the outside into the company. And 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 two years. So he knows very well people and structure. So I believe continuity should not be a problem. The problem eventually is the competition abroad and the time to market. I mean, 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 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 the three years ready to jump and to work on all the different programs. So I believe there is no really 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. So if a profile like mine goes out, maybe they have to reinforce the technology, the chief technology officer position that at the moment is backhand. because I was playing that role, basically, so far. But I think this is, okay, this is solvable. We have to go on the market and see, either internally or externally, whether there are good candidates that can coordinate the multi-mission idea underlying the industrial plan. But it's something, I mean, in the end of the day, it's a good difficulty finding good people. It shouldn't be a problem.

Thank you. My second question is on the guidance. I believe you mentioned that you can 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, EBK, 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. But 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 percent. I would say this time is really very good in almost all KPIs. So with the braveness that I can have, because I'm believing, I would have increased transversely the guidance. But of course, we need to be more, they need to be more prudent. First of all, this is a responsibility that the new CEO has to share, and he has to agree on that, and he has to make his analysis. And then, of course, I think they will discuss this with the CFO, and they will make their choices. But the numbers are all quite above the expectations. So in the end of the day, I think we could be optimistic. Can I stop saying things?

No, no. 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 so although it is very good most of the activity has to be done over the last three quarters so it's a good very good start but it's a minor part of our path towards the full year guidance we have also a number of plus and minus we need to access mainly due to the geopolitical context so 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 still a balanced situation versus the guidance. Of course, if you look at the orders, we are already at 9 billion, so it is a particularly good performance. But again, keep in mind that orders are not linear, so We knew that the first quarter would have been the best quarter maybe at the beginning of the year, but we have to do lots of things to get the guidance. So we are optimistic. We look at the guidance in an optimistic way that will be a task for the new board of directors, but keeping in mind all this.

Just to follow up on this, I've seen the margin effect is fairly large, about 59 million, much larger than the volume effect. Can you say perhaps what is the main driver of that? Thank you. And that's the last one.

Yeah. I think you see very well when you look at the split by sector. I think increasing scale without increasing, you know, fixed cost is helping us a lot. So we're improving marginality because we're increasing the scale. But also, of course, we are continuing on our saving plan. And, 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, and global contribution overall is improving everywhere. So very solid program performance, which is at the end the main driver. I think we are performing very well on programs, and so this is a clear outcome of the actions we have been doing over the last years.

Okay, thank you. And the next question comes from Roslo 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 EVECL and thanks for the 2026 contribution guidance. I know you don't want to give new group medium term guidance, but maybe you can provide a bit more colour on what you think EVECL could contribute medium term. Should we use EVECL's 2024 CMD outlook as a guide or is it better given developments since 2024? And then, 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, so 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, and, 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 defense vehicles. And above all, fully leverage on the synergies we can produce putting together Leonardo and IDVU. So it is something we will update during the year based on the progress of this analysis. But you can see already that we expect a good profitability overall, 11% return on sales on the main month, 2026. and this is something we expect also over the plan. So we think, you know, the acquisition of IDV will be a creative standalone, but also including the synergies we can generate over the plan. So we will update on the entire plan, but we see a very positive situation. Regarding TARQI, 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. So we are working on that, but I confirm it is not on Q1 orders.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you. So, the next one is coming from 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 defense electronics and security. And 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 to two of your smaller divisions. And 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 MBTA and your rival, Thales, in the Euro-SAM teaming? Can you get access to SAMP-T on the same conditions that Thales does, or do they have a structural advantage because of the Euro-SAM teaming? Thank you.

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, and so it's an analysis that, of course, We will do. But at the moment, it is included in the electronic defense, and clearly the portion which has more synergy with IDV is currently inside electronic defense.

I mean, even though it will not be my business, but you have to consider historically that AutoMelara, 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 Defense plus AutoMelara is getting so big that possibly it in itself could be a sort of land division. But 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. But clearly the critical mass of land defense now is much bigger than one year ago, where Ottomelara 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 to show that how much bigger it became, the entire land defense landscape in Leonardo. About the SMPTE and the effectors, let me tell you something. I mean, obviously, we expect to have some preferential access to SMPTE because we participate into the NVDA and so on and so forth. However, the important point is that Michelangelo is effector agnostic, so has been conceived not to be specifically dedicated to one effector. Of course, we like to have sort of homemade effectors or at least participated effectors, but we have already started discussions with other producers outside Europe, or not only 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. Thank you very much. You're welcome.

Thank you. Next question is coming from Benjamin Healan from Bank of America.

Yeah, 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 colour? Where are you on that? Is there any timeline or probability that you can give around that deal coming to fruition? Then secondly, could you give us an update of where we are on the joint venture with Rhinetown on the land side, and when can we see orders on that? And then finally, just an update on the Global Combat Air Program. There were some articles about the UK struggling in the short term with some funding. I was just wondering if there's that impact in the development timeline at all, if there's any update there. Thank you.

Okay, I'll start telling you something. Okay, go. Okay.

Aerostructure, as we said in March, there is an important outstanding issue with a 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 fully implement the business plan and the JV. I think they are still working internally on that. They are discussing between an essential part of this plan is the funding agreement and the funding they need to get from their country. So it's a work they have done from their side. We are not part of this discussion. As we said, we set a window, a summer window to have a go-no-go decision. So they are saying that their analysis will be, you know, consistent with the summer deadline, but 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.

Which was the next one? About GCAP, yeah, we heard about, we read on the news, actually, about the momentary difficulty in the UK for funding the program, but 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. So 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. But I believe that the rationale for continuing insisting, trying harder on the GCAP is by far more important than the momentary difficulty.

Yeah, very important to add that we got the first order, Edge Wing, the first international contract at the end of March. So it's 0.8 billion pounds. So coming from the international portion. So funded by all the three countries. So it was a very important milestone to progress on the activities which are being made by Edge Wing.

Yeah, in the end of the day, it's more likely to have a slight delay in the program rather than a stop, also because stopping would be a big mistake in that all the others have already stopped. So I think we should make an effort. There was a third question or? Yeah, there was an answer from Leonardo Rai-Mittal.

Ah, yes.

The agenda of the Rinaldo Remetal.

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 lot coming. And 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. So right now, we don't see specific issues, but we're monitoring continuously.

Okay, great. Thank you.

You're welcome.

Thank you. The next question comes from Martino D'Ambrogio from .

Thank you. Good afternoon, everybody. And 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. So I just wonder if it's something exceptional this year or there is – It is a business probably not recurring because I knew this business inside Iveco was not clear, obviously the standalone free cash flow, but seems quite important. And still on IDB, 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. So, of course, you know, excluding the first quarter from the numbers leads you to a very good nine-month result. But just because, you know, you are excluding the first quarter, which was heavily negative in EVECO, like in every company in aerospace and defense. So 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. So you see only the more positive part of the year, of course.

Could I ask you what would be the pro forma full year?

Let's say that, you know, we don't give guidance on each component of the free operating cash flow, but the first quarter was heavily negative. So if you look at the 2025 results under IVECO control, so it was not our responsibility. It was in the range of 160, 150. Okay. Okay, and the portion of the business... The portion of the business in the nine 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. So if we look at those nine 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. And last on the aerostructure, What is the cash burn embedded in your four-year guidance very roughly compared to the 200 million absorbed last year?

Well, we assume that it will be negative again. The EBIT was around the minus 80 million in the year plus some investments, so it's more than 100 of cash drag in the year.

Okay. It's above 100. Okay, very last on the G-Cup that you commented before. Maybe new entry 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. 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. But this is ultimately a political decision. We expressed more than one occasion that we would agree in widening the team, but just a technical position. Yeah. Thank you very much.

Thank you. The next question comes from Sebastian Groh from BNP Paribas.

Hi, Claudia. Hi, Giuseppe, and hi, Roberto. Thanks for taking my question. It's only one really that's remaining, and it's around the DES 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 pips, and then also DRS at almost up 200 basis points. But 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, and 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. As I said, the first one is, you know, the program performance, that it was very good. So this is the main driver, together, of course, with the increasing of scale, because as I said, we are increasing revenues, but not increasing the fixed cost and the cost below the margin in a way which is comparable to the increase of revenues. So we are benefiting from the additional scales we are able to get. And 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 programs some specific programs and some cost impact on rare materials so in the difference you see also the impact of that but overall the arrest 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 and $10 million of additional ABTDA, so very small improvement, but of course, this is a clear sign of how positive they see the rest of the year.

Thank you. All the best for that. Thank you.

Thank you. Next question is coming from David Perry from JP Morgan.

Yeah. Hi, Roberto and Giuseppe. Roberto, I don't want to embarrass you further, but congrats on a good job. You were the ninth Leonardo CEO in the time I've covered the stock. You were definitely the best. So I've got two questions. Giuseppe, I'm sorry, 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? Because we're adding some numbers to this year, but are we going to take a chunk of that back out next year? So we just wanted some clarity on that. And then, 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? Because 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. So, be curious what advice you might have for your successor.

Yeah. So, relating to IDV consolidation, the numbers we 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. So I will say that we will sell. I will say that it is one of the options. 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. So for the time being, we are consolidating 100% of the IDV perimeter, including the truck business, and we will see the outcome of this discussion and potential negotiation. Also together with the assessment of synergies that Roberto was saying is, of course, we will do the best thing from a value perspective and we will decide.

David, thank you. Yeah, first of all for the, for your words and the second for the question. I believe that number one, Leonardo must learn to believe in itself. It's a problem mindset. For that, you know, to change the culture in the company, of course, we need a bit of time, a bit more time. But 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. So 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 in 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's 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 Ukraine, gas price was up, and then electricity's up. So the national security of the entire world is at risk. So if we, if Leonardis will be a real global security company, I think should have the duty to develop advanced technology for modular nuclear reactors for generators, for generation. You might say, ah, but this is too long, this is a lot of investment. Yes, you are right, but 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 going to be the biggest threat to the global security, especially in the Western countries. So I believe Leonardo would have all the capability, all the technology, the industrial capability to launch maybe a new call, participate with 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. But I believe many companies in the gravity field of defense are thinking in this direction. So mindset, R&D, taking advantage of the unique software, hardware capability and servitization of the products, and then 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 Zorio from Barclays.

Hello. Yes, thank you. I 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. And then the second question on error structures, again, I appreciate you just mentioned that the summer deadline is probably in change here, but just wondering if you can comment on the size of this new venture. I believe you have said before that this would be a much much bigger and larger venture. So it will be interesting for me to know the size of the new partnership you're forming here. Thank you.

On H90, it was not a full payment, but most of the outcome of the litigation has been paid. So I think we missed something like 10 or 15 million still to pay in Q2. But most of it was paid in Q1.

You want me to answer about the... Okay. 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. So, 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. So, inherently, they have to make a decision giving us a response, because otherwise they will shut the door, 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. So, industrially, everything has been agreed. Even financially, everything has been agreed, so 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. So I believe this is more sort of internal political organization. And 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 going to change the deadline of their incentive law. So we will look forward to seeing what happens, but this is the situation at the moment.

Any second, quickly follow up on, you know, we're talking about timelines. For the deal with Ryan McCall, with the cycle defense, is there a new message you want to send across by June still, or can that lead to the second half?

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, so we have no reason to expect a shift. I mean, that would be really negative also for us. Now, give us one week to fix the change of top management, but I'm sure that our people will fly again there and press the institution to see what happens. This has been done a few weeks ago, so we are really riding the horse at the moment. I don't think anybody wants to delay.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Oh, sorry, sorry. Wait a minute, because maybe I didn't get, the question was on Rheinmetall. Oh, so I gave you an answer about... No.

No?

Okay. The question was on... Am I right?

I lost it. Yes, we lost the line.

Okay.

So thank you all. We are now closing our Q&A session. Thank you to Roberto and thank you to Giuseppe. And the IR team is anyway open to any follow-up. Thank you. Have a nice evening. Bye.

Good.