Leading European shipbuilder Fincantieri is ringing in the changes at senior management level as it draws up a post-coronavirus business plan.
Former banker Fabio Gallia has been appointed general manager, replacing Alberto Maestrini, who has been in the position for four years.
Gallia comes to Italy's largest shipbuilding group with a strong financial background.
He was until two years ago general manager of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, a state-owned company that is Fincantieri's leading shareholder.
Big salary
Gallia will report to Giuseppe Bono, who remains chief executive and managing director. He will help the shipbuilder achieve "increasingly challenging and ambitious goals for the group," Bono said.
Gallia, who La Repubblica newspaper reported will receive a salary of €1.6m ($1.9m), takes on the job at a difficult time for the shipbuilding conglomerate.
Its production facilities around Italy were forced to cease production on 26 March due to Covid-19 restrictions.
That contributed to a loss of €137m for the first half of 2020 versus a €12m profit in the same period last year.
"We faced this — for many reasons — dramatic time with the utmost determination as so the company would emerge from it stronger than before," Bono said in a statement.
"This approach has proven right, and it has allowed us not only to avoid any order cancellation, but, at the same time, to win noteworthy tenders."
Delivery delays
Fincantieri delivered 10 vessels in the first half of 2020, including three cruiseships.
Revenue came in at €2.37bn, down from €2.81bn for the first six months of 2019, but second-half revenues are expected to be broadly in line with last year's.
The shipbuilder confirmed that the loss of production at its yards will lead to delayed delivery of three cruiseships that were originally scheduled to deliver later this year.
But it said production volumes are expected to be back to pre-Covid levels in the second half.
It also highlighted a record order backlog of 117 ships worth €38bn.
Fincantieri, which is the world's largest builder of cruiseships, remains positive about the prospects for the cruise sector.
Shipowners had "unequivocally" expressed their intention not to cancel any existing orders, it said, and they are likely to focus on the entry of new ships into their fleet at the expense of less efficient ones.
Cruiseship owners that are not subject to US "no sail" directives have already resumed operation, it said.
That includes cruise operator Ponant, through the Paul Gauguin brand, which resumed activities on 15 July in French Polynesia.
Carnival Group's Aida brand will resume in Germany this month, the shipbuilder said.
Fincantieri is working on a business plan to cover the period to 2024. That will be finalised after detailed analysis of the medium to long-term repercussions of the Covid-19 crisis.
