ELT Group 2024 Results – Strategic plan achieved
Rome, 19 December 2024-“2024 was a very important year for us, in fact we are in the midst of the most important growth trend for our company. The volume of orders acquired was the highest in our history, we are growing in Italy, with the increase in the number of employees and the opening of new offices, and increasingly confirming our presence abroad. This means that the strategies identified in the industrial plan were the right ones and that our core business is proving to be central in the multi-domain approach thanks also to the massive inclusion of new technologies including artificial intelligence (AI). Today ELT Group is a solid company, which looks to the future with optimism and with many projects in an increasingly challenging and competitive defence market”. Domitilla Benigni, CEO & COO of ELT Group, talks about the company’s growth during 2024.
The market continues to grow
2024 will further improve the positive growth trend of recent years, with a production value exceeding €350M and an order volume of approximately €470M, 64% higher than the result obtained in 2023. This is the highest order volume acquired by Elettronica in its history, the result of an ever-increasing worldwide positioning, together with the continuous growth of the national and consortium markets.
The market has confirmed the importance of supporting technological developments towards new generations and the development of capabilities for multi-domain and interoperable applications.
The main contracts of the year were: EFA, GCAP, FREMM Evo, NH90, EW Centre in Qatar and naval contracts in the Far East and the Gulf, in addition to 7 new EDP programmes (Carmenta PF; FESPAN; EMISSARY; E-CUAS ; NG-MIMA; MARTE; EISNET) and two of Cy4Gate (FMBTech; ECYSAP EYE ), which include Research and Development activities in the air, naval, terrestrial, cyber and space domains. Furthermore, on the Space theme, the company was awarded the PNRM programme “GRISLI – Geolocalization Resilient System from LEO Intelligence” and, for the first time, two ESA programmes. The internationalization process continues with the start of the activities of the Saudi company launched last year and the signing of institutional cooperation agreements and industrial collaborations in KSA, UAE and Qatar. Strong consolidation also in the German market where ELT Deutschland is increasing its contribution and value chain in the EFA and NH90 programs in Germany, i.e. expanding its offer of operational and technical-logistical support. It has also achieved successes in MWRS Airbus, NATO NSPA and NATO JEWCS.
Furthermore, it is worth highlighting a new Customer Service model that has integrated Logistics with Operational Support and Training, providing the customers with a new Capability based on Academy and EW Centres, in addition to the repair capacity that can be located in a modular and scalable way for a business that has reached approx. 100M€ per year.
New opportunities from subsidiaries and controlled companies
The company’s growth is also evident through subsidiaries and controlled companies.
In 2024, Cy4gate’s dimensional and technological growth continued. In January of this year, there was the acquisition of approximately 80% of XTN, in July a further 15% of the French Diateam was acquired, and in September, together with CDP Venture Capital, a JV was created to meet the cyber security needs of national SMEs. In 2024, ELT Group made record investments in cyber R&D activities, entrusting Cy4Gate with contracts for €10M for the development of convergence activities in the cyber and EW domains.
The newco E4Life (51% ELT, 49% Lendlease) established last year with the aim of growing technologically and effectively bringing the E4Shield technology for the aerosol inactivation of respiratory viruses to the market is also growing. In its first year of business, the company achieved a turnover of approximately €5 million, reaching breakeven one year ahead of schedule.
In 2024, the purchase of 100% of EltHub was also finalized. The acquisition is part of the Group’s growth plan with the aim of creating a true centre of expertise in Abruzzo in the Space EW and Ground segments, in addition to the current business lines
Investments in R&D and technological innovation
ELT confirms itself as a company strongly oriented towards innovation and Research and Development, confirming its total annual investment of €50 million.
Among the main focuses is Space, after the launch of Scorpio last year, the company is in fact working on the spectrum acquisition capacity of civil signals from the stratosphere, an observation point that remains high in the capacity to acquire information and which has the advantage, compared to assets in LEO orbit, of being persistent.
Among the research areas is the development of the Unmanned EMSO capability. The company has worked on the development of payloads with ELINT functionality (in the versions for mini drones and small drones), while the development of payloads with other functionalities is being finalized.
The anti-drone capabilities have been increased with the “on the move” and “naval” versions (both autonomous and fully integrated with the ship’s combat system) using proprietary AI algorithms. Also in this area, we have integrated the Cyber capability on the electromagnetic spectrum into the Adrian product family, to make neutralization activities more sophisticated through the taking control of the drone (Hijacking).
Starting in 2023, the company has also entered the Underwater domain thanks to the U212 program and further studies are underway to bring its skills on board. The commitment to the terrestrial domain also continues, as a new horizon for the development of sixth-generation operational concepts.
Awards and Welfare Policies
In line with the company’s growth, the number of employees is also increasing with 180 new hires in 2024 and over 200 expected in 2025.
In the last 7 years, ELT has achieved the Great Place to Work certification and in 2024 it was confirmed, for the third consecutive year, among Deloitte’s “Best managed companies”, the only company in the defense sector and the only company in Lazio. Finally, this year too, the company obtained the first prize in the “Industry” Sector at the Welfare Index promoted by Generali.
Image courtesy ELT
