(Finance) – S&P Global Ratings has confirmed the rating from Leonardo to BB + / B and it has the outlook was revised upwards, taking it to positive. After a difficult 2020, when the pandemic weighed on the profitability and credit metrics of the group, Leonardo’s credit metrics “began to recover slowly, supported by its defense and government activities”, highlights the rating agency. S&P predicts that the balance sheet of the Italian company “is strengthened in a sustainable waythanks to the management’s commitment to reduce financial leverage and improve the absorption of working capital “.
According to the company’s expectations, the business of aerostructures it will reach balance in 2025, which implies that it “will continue to drain liquidity for the next two or three years,” the rating agency said. As a result, analysts now predict that in 2022-2023 this activity will reduce margins by 150 basis points (bps) to 200bps. “Although the group can rely on an increase in volumes due to the faster recovery of demand from ATR (Regional Transport Aircraft) e Airbus (narrow-body aircraft A321 and A220), we still expect a difficult operating environment and weak demand for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner. Eurofighter and JSFwill positively contribute to margins and cash generation “.