Leonardo raised its 2026 new-orders target after a strong first nine months, when the Italian aerospace and defense company booked €23.27 billion and its order backlog expanded to €60.372 billion, according to results released Nov. 5.
The revised target is about €29.5 billion, up from the previous forecast of €28.2 billion. Leonardo said orders rose 27.8% from a year earlier. Excluding the contribution of Iveco Defence Vehicles (IDV) on a like-for-like basis, the increase was 22.4%. Defense electronics led order intake, the company said.
The backlog, which represents work awaiting delivery rather than orders booked during the period, was 27.7% higher than a year earlier. Leonardo said it covered more than 2.7 years of production.
Leonardo completed its roughly €1.6 billion purchase of IDV on March 18. The acquired business contributed about €6 billion to the backlog. Net debt reached €3.325 billion on Sept. 30, up 43.8% year over year; the acquisition outlay contributed to the increase, according to the company.
Revenue for the first nine months rose 14.2% to €15.347 billion. Earnings before interest, taxes and amortization (EBITA) increased 37.7% to €1.301 billion, while adjusted net profit climbed 74.2% to €812 million.
Leonardo held its other 2026 targets steady: revenue of about €22.1 billion, EBITA of €2.21 billion, free operating cash flow of €1.37 billion and net debt of about €2.2 billion. Those full-year figures remain company targets; the reported net debt at Sept. 30 was above the year-end target.
Chief Executive Officer Lorenzo Mariani said the company aims to expand production and delivery capacity to meet demand represented by its backlog. He also cited the GCAP program, joint ventures with Rheinmetall and Baykar, work with Airbus and Thales on a European space operator, and development of the Michelangelo Dome. Leonardo expects commercial prospects to improve further in the fourth quarter, according to its results release.
