2018 Guidance reconfirmed, planting the seeds for growth.
€ 14 cent. dividend distribution proposed.
Signed today a contract with Qatar for more than € 3 billion in the Helicopters.

FY2017 results delivered in line with Guidance revised in January

• New order intake at € 11.6 billion
• Revenues at € 11.5 billion
• Book to bill at 1
• EBITA at € 1.07 billion and Profitability (RoS) at 9.2%
• FOCF at € 537 million 

• Entering 2018 with strong order backlog of € 33.6 billion
• Planting the seeds and investing for sustainable growth
• Exploiting major benefits from Aircraft business including Eurofighter programme
• Building steady improvement in world class Helicopters business
• Building on solid progress within Electronics, Defence and Security Systems

• Well positioned in more positive international markets expected to growth
• Able to leverage «One Company» model and enhanced commercial strategy 
• Exploit market opportunities to drive top line growth and higher profitability
• Investment plan targeted on technologies and products with the best commercial opportunities
• Strict cost control and disciplined financial strategy
• Stepping up cash generation from 2020

• New Orders: amounted to EUR 11,595 million (-3% vs 2016 after adjusting for the effecting of the major EFA Kuwait contract of € 7.95 bn. In 2016). The overall slight decrease was mainly attributable to the abovementioned difficulties that affected the sector of Helicopters and to the decline recorded in the sector of Electronics, the results of which were also affected by the negative exchange rate effect, in particular on the pound sterling.
• Order Backlog: amounted to EUR 33,578 million (-3.5% vs. 2016). The order backlog ensures coverage of production of just under 3 years (based on 2017 revenues).
• Revenues: amounted to EUR 11,527 million, a slight decrease (-4%) compared to 2016, also due to the effect of an unfavourable exchange rate arising from the conversion of revenues into GBP and, to a lesser extent, into USD (about € 160 mln.). Helicopters revenues felt because of  delayed production on some product lines, as well as by the abovementioned exchange rate effect. Electronics and Aeronautics (the latter began to benefit from revenues arising from the EFA Kuwait programme) posted revenues in line with 2016. The book-to-bill ratio was equal to 1, in line (excluding the effect of the EFA Kuwait contract) with 2016.
• EBITA: amounted to EUR 1,066 million, showed a decrease of 14.9% compared to 2016, with a decline of 1.2% in ROS, affected by lower volumes and profits in the sector of Helicopters, as well as, to a lesser extent, by the results achieved in the sectors of Aeronautics and Electronics, against a lower loss recorded in the segment of other activities compared to 2016.
• EBIT: amounted to EUR 833 million; the decline in EBITA was partly absorbed by a reduction in non-recurring costs and costs for restructuring (- € 47 mln.), thus entailing a decrease of € 149 mln. in EBIT compared to 2016.
• Net Result before extraordinary transactions: amounted to EUR 274 million, showed a decline compared to 2016, which was due to the performance of EBIT, as well as to higher financial costs. The increase in financial costs of € 157 mln. compared to 2016 was attributable to costs (€ 97 mln.) arising from the buy-back transactions on a portion of the Group’s bond issues (these transactions are largely dealt with in the section on “Financial transactions”); 2016 financial year also benefitted from positive exchange differences which were also reflected in the fair values of the derivatives, with a delta of + € 75 mln. compared to 2017. The Group’s tax position was affected by the US taxation system reform launched by Trump’s government, as a result of which deferred tax assets recorded in the United States of America were redetermined on the basis of the new federal tax rate (decreased from 35% to 21%), with a charge of about € 50 mln. accrued in the 2017 financial year. While excluding this effect, the tax rate showed an improvement in 2017, which was attributable to a reduction in the IRES (Corporate Income) tax rate from 27.5% to 24% in Italy.
• Net Result: amounted to EUR 274 million, equal to the net result before extraordinary transactions, in the absence of extraordinary transactions (on the contrary, the 2016 financial year was affected the transfer of operations carried out with Sukhoi on the Superjet programme in the Aeronautics sector and from the disposal of the Environmental business of DRS, net of the capital gain from the disposal of FATA).
• Free Operating Cash Flow (FOCF): amounted to EUR 537 million, posted a positive result of € 537 mln., showing a deterioration compared to 2016 (€ 706 mln.), which had benefitted from a lower level of investment spending. 
• Group Net Debt: amounted to EUR 2,579 million, an improvement of 9% compared to 2016, despite the outlays arising from the acquisition of Daylight Solutions and of the additional stakes of Avio (for a total of € 168 mln.), as well as of the payment of dividends (€ 81 mln.). The negative change in loans and borrowings was attributable to the repayment of the debenture loan due December and to the repurchases of bonds made in 2017, net of the placement of new bonds of € 600 mln.