*

Leonardo's aerostructures business impacted by Boeing's ( BA )

troubles

*

CEO says new business opportunities will be announced in

2025

*

Order backlog reaches record level of over 43 billion

euros

(Recasts with CEO comments on guidance)

By Giulia Segreti

ROME, Nov 7 (Reuters) -

Italian aerospace and defence group Leonardo

stopped short of raising its 2024 guidance due to external

factors, including the Boeing ( BA ) crisis, its chief executive

said on Thursday.

"We would increase guidance had there not been exogenous

issues, such as the Boeing ( BA ) situation," CEO Roberto Cingolani

said in a post-results call with analysts, adding that the

numbers the group posted for the first nine months of the year

were very promising.

The state-controlled group said it expected to release

an update to its latest industrial plan in March 2025.

The conglomerate was among top gainers in European

defence stocks after Donald Trump was elected U.S. president, in

a return that is fuelling bets of higher military spending in

the region. Shares in Leonardo have already risen over 250%, to

over 23 euros per share, since Russia invaded Ukraine in

February 2022.

However, the Italian group's aerostructures business has

been suffering from the impact of Boeing's ( BA ) recent troubles.

Leonardo designs, develops and manufactures some of the

components for Boeing's ( BA ) 787 Dreamliner airframe.

Cingolani said Leonardo could not wait any longer for

Boeing ( BA ) to resolve its issues and was looking for additional work

for that division. Acknowledging Boeing's ( BA ) goodwill in finding a

solution, he added: "this is not enough to keep the division

running, we cannot continue based on a single provider".

He added that the group was considering new business

opportunities and these would be announced in the business plan

update.

n the third quarter of the year new orders were up 7.8%

on a pro-forma basis - taking into account the consolidation of

the Telespazio joint venture - compared to the same period last

year, pushed by the electronics and security business.

The group's order backlog reached a record level of more

than 43 billion euros ($46.5 billion), ensuring a coverage in

terms of production for over 2.5 years.

($1 = 0.9249 euros)