Italian aerospace and defence industry group Finmeccanica said Monday it had won a contract worth 905 million dollars to provide maintenance services for Britain's AW101 Merline helicopter fleet.

Finmeccanica said the contract was awarded to its helicopter unit AgustaWestland under the terms of a wider 25-year arrangement with Britain on maintenance services for the Merlin.

On the stock market, Finmeccanica gained around 3.0 percent on the news while the market overall lost 0.54 percent.