Now that the European approach to defense has changed and that there is a commitment to allocate more resources to the sector, it will be necessary to “pay attention to the choice of programs to focus on”. Full speed ahead on the G2G for exports, given that to date the new national instrument “has not yet completed its regulatory path”. These are the central points recalled by Alessandro Profumo , Leonardo’s CEO during the hearing in the Senate, which focused on the prospects for Italian exports in the sector and on the implementation of the recent legislation on ‘Government-Government’ relations. For Leonardo, the issue of export mechanisms for defense materials in Italy is certainly central since the company sells 83% of its turnover abroad.Leonardo’s perspectives
“As Leonardo we basically have three guidelines: the first is to further strengthen our leadership position in the helicopter sector; second issue concerns continuing to participate strongly in major international fighter programs; the last area on which we are working intensely and it is the area that also strongly binds us to Germany and the area of defense electronics “. Thus outlined the strategy of the company the CEO.
For the near future, the company focuses on Eurofighter which is “certainly the most important program we are involved in at a European level”, and on the Tempest “which will become a great technological development base for the country”. Not only that, the trainers 345 and 346 are also relevant both in the training version and in the light attack version (light fighter), which includes the hypothesis of Colombia. The results of 2021
The aerospace group closed 2021 in the name of growth with profits of 587 million, which increased by 142% on the previous year, also thanks to the stability of revenues and the excellent performance of activities for the defense of governments. We also witnessed the remuneration of the shareholders and the return of the dividend after the 2020 fast with a coupon of € 0.14 per share. “We collected orders in 2021 for 14.3 billion, we had a turnover of 14.11 billion, we generated cash for 209 million”, noted the CEO. Who added: “In the five years of my management we have created 5,681 net jobs, that is we have grown as employment for 5,681 jobs, we have collected orders for 69 billion and reduced debt by 1.3 billion”, continued Profumo. , at the head of the company since 2017.The point about the supply in Colombia
During the hearing, requested on the issue of supplying trainers 345 and 346 in Bogota, the managing director reminded the parliamentarians that the negotiation did not make use of the G2G tool, “we had started the procedure with the Unit for authorizations of weapons materials (Uama) in 2019, in times well before “the introduction of this instrument into our system and” we were still in the first two phases, which are those in which we try to understand, in what form, in what way a potential opportunity is transformed into a reality “. The negotiation with the South American country would allow Leonardo to penetrate a potentially important and strategic market, in which the Italian company is currently absent. “The hypothesis has not gone away” explained Profumo and if it were to be realized,G2G agreements in Italy
G2G is an agreement in which the contractors are not the companies but the states that procure goods or services from the manufacturing companies to sell them to the contractual counterpart, with the guarantee of the selling state, which has negotiating skills and of signature. At the end of 2019, thanks to the modification of the legislative framework, in particular article 537-ter of the Code of the military order, the possibility of signing this type of agreement was introduced in our country as well. Since then “we have only concluded two G2G contracts as a country, one with Austria and one with Slovenia”, highlighted Profumo.
At the beginning of December last year, a preliminary agreement was signed with Austria for the supply of 18 Agusta AW169M helicopters, while Slovenia finalized an agreement a few days ago that provides for the purchase of a C27J Spartan aircraft. accompanied by training services for crews, assistance and maintenance. However, the procedure to finalize these agreements is not yet concluded and completed, in fact “for both we must request the export authorization on our part, precisely because the regulatory process connected to the G2G has not yet been completed”, specified the to. Export hearing also for the head of Uama This week the hearing of Alberto Cutillo
was also held at the Defense Commission of the Senate, director of the Military Goods Authorization Unit (Uama). The plenipotentiary minister, in addition to confirming that with regard to the G2G, “at the moment there are two authorizations in progress relating to Austria and Slovenia”, he took stock of Italian exports in the sector. The region to which we exported the most in 2021 was the European Union, after several years in which the Middle East and North Africa market was central to us. In particular, we improved our performance in countries such as France, Germany and the Netherlands, while exports to the UK and Spain declined over the year. According to Cutillo’s words, the 15 most important Italian companies cover 92% of the export value of the sector, and Leonardo is confirmed as the one with the highest value.
