A new name will soon be making its appearance in the top tier of the European aerospace industry following Finmeccanica’s announcement that it plans to change its name to Leonardo. The name change comes as the Italian group pursues implementation of a new organisational and operating model, which it calls the “One Company” initiative.

The company says its overall goal is to set up an Aerospace, Defence and Security business perimeter that is both more defined and able to achieve adequate levels of profitability and cash generation. 2015 was marked by disposals in Transportation (Ansaldo Breda and the stake in Ansaldo STS).

The recently announced results for 2015 are seen as confirming the material improvement in both business and financial performance over the past year. Among the highlights, EBITDA jumped 18.9%, to €1,866m, and the EBITDA margin improved from 12.3% to 14.4%. Net profit soared to €527m (compared with €20m the previous year) on revenues of €13bn (+1.8%).

New orders were slightly down, at €12.4bn, due to what the company calls a more rigorous selection of commercial opportunities, aimed at boosting backlog profitability. A decline in Helicopters and Aeronautics was offset by improvement in Defence Electronics and Security and a positive foreign exchange effect. The year-end order backlog stood at €28.8bn.