Leonardo S P A — The Case: Legal, Investors, Muslims, Everyone

The Invisible Profiteer

Who Is Leonardo S P A?

Key Statistics at a Glance

Year	Revenue (approx.)	Key Context	Source
2021	$16.723 billion	Pre‑invasion baseline before 2022–2024 European rearmament cycle.	[Source: MacroTrends — 2021 value — https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/FINMY/finmeccanica-spa/revenue]
2022	$15.502 billion	Down ~7.3% vs 2021; portfolio mix in transition.	[Source: MacroTrends — 2022 value and YoY — https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/FINMY/finmeccanica-spa/revenue]
2023	$16.549 billion	Up ~6.76% vs 2022 amid rising defence outlays.	[Source: MacroTrends — 2023 value and YoY — https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/FINMY/finmeccanica-spa/revenue]
2024	$19.221 billion	Financial profile consistent with large multi‑year arms programs and long‑term supplier roles.	[Source: MacroTrends — Leonardo annual revenue series — https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/FINMY/finmeccanica-spa/revenue] [Source: ANSA — 2024 net profit — https://www.ansa.it/english/news/2025/03/11/leonardo-net-profit-up-63-to-1.159-bn-in-2024_49cbc9b3-2695-465b-8ebd-ccf45041c434.html]

Revenue, profit and the economics of selling weapons

Leonardo reported roughly $19.221 billion in revenue for 2024 and a net profit of €1.159 billion — a financial profile consistent with large multi‑year arms programs and long‑term supplier roles. [Source: MacroTrends — Leonardo annual revenue series — https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/FINMY/finmeccanica-spa/revenue] [Source: ANSA — 2024 net profit — https://www.ansa.it/english/news/2025/03/11/leonardo-net-profit-up-63-to-1.159-bn-in-2024_49cbc9b3-2695-465b-8ebd-ccf45041c434.html]

For ethical investors assessing “Leonardo S.p.A war profiteering Gaza,” the numbers below ground the discussion in audited trend data rather than rhetoric.

Weapons of War

The Legal Case: International Law and Leonardo S P A

Is Leonardo S P A involved in war crimes? The UN Special Rapporteur has documented plausible links between Leonardo’s products, financing and the Israeli operations in Gaza that raise serious questions of corporate complicity; these are allegations that trigger legal, regulatory and reputational risk, not a criminal conviction.

From an international human rights law perspective, allegations that a company supplies weapons, components or services used in conduct that breaches international humanitarian law engages frameworks for corporate due diligence, state responsibility and potential civil or criminal follow‑up. The recently published UN Special Rapporteur report A/HRC/59/23 lists Leonardo among companies whose activities “directly and indirectly enable” abuses in the occupied Palestinian territory. That finding sits alongside ICJ proceedings, arms control norms and domestic export rules that together shape possible legal exposure.

Legal Instrument	What It Says	Relevance to Leonardo S P A	Source URL
ICJ (South Africa v. Israel)	States may be ordered to prevent and not to assist acts amounting to genocide or breaches of international law.	ICJ findings on state conduct increase scrutiny on corporate activities that materially support alleged state violations.	[Source: ICJ — case 192 — https://www.icj-cij.org/case/192]
UN Special Rapporteur A/HRC/59/23	Documents corporate links that may “directly and indirectly enable” abuses and calls for enhanced due diligence.	Identifies Leonardo in an annex; use of “alleged” and “documented” is required pending legal processes.	[Source: UN — https://www.un.org/unispal/document/a-hrc-59-23-from-economy-of-occupation-to-economy-of-genocide-report-special-rapporteur-francesca-albanese-palestine-2025/]
Arms Trade Treaty	Requires states to assess the risk of exported arms being used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian or human rights law.	Leonardo’s sales/imports subject to state export licensing under ATT obligations; inadequate controls may create indirect liability.	[Source: UN — https://www.un.org/disarmament/convarms/att/]
Geneva Conventions / ICRC	Protect civilians in armed conflict and prohibit indiscriminate attacks.	Arms or systems used in attacks resulting in civilian harm can trigger investigations of parties and suppliers.	[Source: ICRC — https://www.icrc.org]
Rome Statute Article 25	Defines individual criminal responsibility, including aiding and abetting, for international crimes.	Provides a doctrinal basis for considering corporate actors or their executives in accountability mechanisms.	[Source: ICC — https://www.icc-cpi.int/resource-library/documents/rs-eng.pdf]

Why Investors Should Care

ESG & Reputational Risk

For ESG investors the central question is not only legal exposure but licence to operate. Sovereign and private exclusions are real: funds such as Norway’s NBIM exclude companies based on involvement in grave violations. A firm named in a UN human rights report faces divestment campaigns, NGO scorecard downgrades and exclusion from sustainable indices — all of which can force multiple costly remediations or loss of institutional clients.

[Source: NBIM — https://www.nbim.no/en/responsible-investment/exclusion-of-companies/]

Regulatory & Legal Risk

Regulatory action may follow political pressure: export controls, procurement bans and civil litigation in jurisdictions applying universal or corporate duty‑of‑care standards. Banks and insurers that underwrite Leonardo (reported exposures cited in the UN report) can face client withdrawals or secondary sanctions risk in heightened scenarios, increasing financing costs and constraining working capital.

[Source: UN Special Rapporteur A/HRC/59/23 — https://www.un.org/unispal/document/a-hrc-59-23-from-economy-of-occupation-to-economy-of-genocide-report-special-rapporteur-francesca-albanese-palestine-2025/]

The Stock Price Illusion

“A rising defence stock during a genocide is not a success story. It is a receipt.”

Short‑term share gains tied to elevated defence spending mask long‑term liabilities: stranded assets, contract cancellations, higher cost of capital and reputational impairment that can erode valuation over time.

The Institutional Trap

Retail and faith‑based investors frequently hold exposure via ETFs and index funds. Passive ownership can mean unwitting support for companies flagged for human rights risk; engagement options may be limited if issuers are deemed unsustainable.

Investor Type	Risk Level	Recommended Action	Resource
Institutional (pension funds)	🔴	Immediate review; consider divestment or active engagement with strict KPIs.	ESG investing guide
Retail / Private investors	🟠	Screen holdings; avoid ETFs with defence prime overweight; consider ethical alternatives.	ESG investing guide
Impact/faith funds	🔴	Exclude on principle; publish policy and divest where required.	ESG investing guide

Why Muslim Investors & Consumers Should Care

Is Leonardo S P A halal to invest in? No — the EI rating is DIVEST; Islamic finance principles that prohibit funding harm (dharar), weapons for oppression (harb) and zulm (oppression) provide grounds to exclude Leonardo from a halal portfolio.

From an Islamic finance perspective, the core principles are the prevention of harm and the promotion of justice. Supplying weapons or components that plausibly enable large‑scale civilian harm contravenes the ethos underpinning many Shariah boards and AAOIFI guidance. Muslim investors who apply halal screening should treat companies implicated in documented harm — and named in human rights reports — as non‑compliant.

[Source: AAOIFI guidance summary — https://isra.my]

There is a communal dimension as well: Gaza’s civilian population is predominantly Muslim; UNRWA and humanitarian reports document severe civilian suffering that heightens moral urgency. Muslim consumers and investors should review pension, zakat and waqf investments for indirect exposure and pursue screening or divestment where required. Non‑violent consumer actions and faith‑based engagement, including support for peaceful accountability mechanisms and BDS choices, are available.

[Source: UNRWA — https://www.unrwa.org]

For practical steps see our internal guidance on halal screening and ethical exclusion.

Halal investment screening

Why Everyone Should Care

Children killed and communities displaced are not abstract statistics. UNICEF and other agencies have chronicled catastrophic impacts on children and families in Gaza; civilian protection is a universal concern. Capital flows enable production and sustainment of weaponry: therefore your portfolio choices have moral force. If institutional capital continues to underwrite manufacturers whose goods are implicated in grave harms, it normalises a market for violence and sets precedents for future conflicts.

[Source: UNICEF — https://www.unicef.org]

Your financial choices are a democratic lever. Divestment, shareholder activism or selective exclusion reduce political and economic support for harmful practices and shift markets toward accountability and safer technologies. The moral claim is simple: citizens, investors and consumers collectively decide what economic activity receives social licence.

“If you knew the company in your pension fund paid dividends funded by the deaths of children — would you keep it?”

THE STOCK PRICE AS A MORAL ALARM

Leonardo S P A’s market capitalisation — roughly $36.23 billion in recent public data — is not a neutral financial statistic. It is a public scorecard of choices made by investors, banks and governments. When revenue, orders and share price rise while a war grinds on and civilians die, markets end up rewarding the company behind the hardware. That is a moral alarm.

If Leonardo S P A’s market capitalisation increased by approximately $3.6 billion between October 2023 and March 2025, during a period in which the documented death toll reached approximately 13,800 children, this represents approximately $261,000 in new shareholder wealth for every documented child death in that period. This is not a dehumanising calculation — it is a moral measurement of what the market has chosen to reward.

Rising share prices and a growing order book translate directly into research budgets, expanded production lines and political influence. Defence stocks as a sector have tended to outperform broad indices during spikes in geopolitical tension; that outperformance funnels capital into companies like Leonardo, increasing their capacity to sell systems that are then deployed in conflict zones. The stock chart is not just a financial instrument. It is a moral ledger.

WHAT CAN YOU DO? — THE ACTION PLAN

Your money is influence. Below are concrete steps for investors, consumers and institutions who want to translate conscience into pressure.

For Investors — 5 Actions

1. Screen your portfolio at ethicalinvestor.org — identify holdings in Leonardo S.p.A (OTC: FINMF) and related exposures in funds or ETFs.
2. Divest directly from Leonardo S P A if you hold FINMF as a listed position; reallocate to genuinely screened ESG or halal-compliant alternatives.
3. Switch pensions or ISAs to providers that publish exclusion lists and offer halal-screened or weapons-free products.
4. Write formally to your pension provider and fund managers demanding exclusions of Leonardo and other companies named in the UN Special Rapporteur’s A/HRC/59/23 analysis.
5. Attend or file resolutions at shareholder meetings where possible — use the platform to demand human-rights due diligence, public disclosure of export destinations and a cessation of business with actors implicated in abuses.

For Consumers — 5 Actions

1. Research Leonardo S P A subsidiaries and local suppliers in your country via investigative portals such as WhoProfits (whoprofits.org).
2. Support and amplify campaigns aligned with principled divestment and non‑violent pressure (for example, BDS-aligned civic campaigns at bdsmovement.net).
3. Press universities, municipalities and public pensions to disclose and divest investments in Leonardo S P A.
4. Check your bank’s exposure using BankTrack and public finance analyses (banktrack.org).
5. Share reliable investigative reporting and source material — public awareness is a form of economic pressure.

For Institutions

• Challenge arms export licences in your jurisdiction — use models from Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and public-interest litigation.
• Adopt academic independence: decline research partnerships or sponsorships tied to Leonardo or its subsidiaries until credible due diligence is published.
• In media, name Leonardo S P A when reporting on weapons systems identified in conflict to keep corporate accountability on the public agenda.

If 1 million investors each withdrew £1,000 from funds holding Leonardo S P A, that is £1 billion in reduced financial power — comparable to the size of a major contract. Money is power. Withdrawing it is pressure.

Resources

Action	Organisation	Link
Portfolio screening	Ethical Investor	https://ethicalinvestor.org
Arms export challenge (UK)	CAAT	https://www.caat.org.uk
Divestment campaigns	BDS Movement	https://bdsmovement.net
Ethical bank check	BankTrack	https://www.banktrack.org
Occupation research	WhoProfits	https://www.whoprofits.org
UN reports	UN UNISPAL	https://www.un.org/unispal
ICJ case	International Court of Justice	https://www.icj-cij.org/case/192
Halal screening	Ethical Investor	https://ethicalinvestor.org

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CONCLUSION — “COMPLICITY IS A CHOICE”

Return for a moment to the opening scene: a beach, a house, a medic sifting rubble. Those human moments are not collateral to a corporate balance sheet; they are its moral consequence. Leonardo S P A is an Italian aerospace and defence multinational (OTC: FINMF) with a multi-billion dollar market cap, large 2024 revenues and product lines that include naval guns, aerostructures for the F‑35, helicopters and defence electronics. The UN Special Rapporteur’s A/HRC/59/23 names corporate actors whose activities enable operations in occupied Palestinian territory; Ethical Investor classifies Leonardo S P A as DIVEST and recommends avoidance by ethical and halal-conscious investors.

Leonardo S P A (OTC: FINMF) is a European defence prime with a market cap of approximately $36.23 billion whose production of aerostructures, naval guns (OTO 76/62 Super Rapido), helicopters and defence electronics are cited in UN and NGO reporting as enabling military operations linked to civilian harm in Gaza. Ethical Investor rates the company DIVEST and recommends that investors divest or avoid FINMF.

Leonardo S P A’s reports, contracts and many financing relationships are public. The information necessary to make ethical financial choices exists. The choice — to invest, to divest, to act, or to look away — is yours.

This is Volume 5 of 5 in Ethical Investor’s EI War Profiteers series. Next: [Next Company Name] — one-line description of next company.

Sources & References

1. MacroTrends — Leonardo S.p.A revenue (2024) — https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/FINMY/leonardo-spa–/revenue
2. StockAnalysis — FINMF market statistics (market cap snapshot) — https://stockanalysis.com/quote/otc/FINMF/statistics/
3. ANSA — Leonardo net profit 2024 (€1.159bn) — https://www.ansa.it/english/news/2025/03/11/leonardo-net-profit-up-63-to-1.159-bn-in-2024_49cbc9b3-2695-465b-8ebd-ccf45041c434.html
4. UN Special Rapporteur A/HRC/59/23 — From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide — https://www.permjitsingh.com/uploads/1/8/5/5/18550062/un_francesca_albanese_from_economy_of_occupation_to_economy_of_genocide.pdf
5. The Defense Post — Sa’ar corvette and OTO 76/62 Super Rapido acceptance — https://thedefensepost.com/2022/09/16/israel-navy-saar-corvette-gun/
6. Leonardo corporate pages — F‑35 aerostructures/CAMERI FACO — https://aircraft.leonardo.com/en/products/f-35-lightning-ii
7. WhoProfits — company mapping — https://www.whoprofits.org
8. Save the Children — Gaza child casualty reporting (April 2024) — https://legacy.savethechildren.net/news/over-2-gaza-s-child-population-killed-or-injured-six-months-war
9. Investing.com — Leonardo orders and investor slides coverage — https://www.investing.com/news/company-news/leonardo-fy-2025-slides-all-targets-exceeded-in-transformation-year-93CH-4525135
10. BankTrack — bank exposure research — https://www.banktrack.org
11. BDS Movement — https://bdsmovement.net
12. CAAT — Campaign Against Arms Trade — https://www.caat.org.uk
13. ICJ — South Africa v. Israel case page — https://www.icj-cij.org/case/192
14. United Nations UNISPAL — https://www.un.org/unispal