Fincantieri rakes in orders worth over $8bn as demand for new cruise ships surges

Fincantieri says its newbuilding order intake more than tripled in the first half of the year as it lifted its guidance for financial leverage.

The Italian shipbuilder, a major player in cruise ship construction, said it pulled in €7.62bn ($8.24bn) in orders during the first six months — a 257% improvement on the €2.13bn a year earlier.

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It logged orders for 18 vessels, up from 11 in the first six months of last year.

The busy ordering lifted its contract backlog to €41.1bn as of the end of June, with visibility stretching to 2032. That represents an orderbook of 96 vessels, compared with 88 at the end of June 2023.

Fincantieri has bolstered its newbuilding strength since the end of the first half, with Carnival Corp booking three 230,000-gt cruise ship giants that extend the backlog to 2033.

The company reported a bottom-line loss of €27m, deeper red ink than the €22m a year earlier.

But Fincantieri focused its report on the €214m in Ebtida during the first half, a 15.7% increase.

Revenue inched upward by 0.3% to €3.68bn.

Chief executive Pierroberto Folgiero couched the results as a step towards the goals set in the company’s 2022 business plan.

“The initiatives pursued, a focused and strong management team and our people’s sense of belonging at Fincantieri have driven margin improvement and cash generation,” he said in the announcement.

“These results, combined with a record commercial performance in all businesses, pave the way for a steady execution of the business plan. We are highly satisfied with the technological expansion in the underwater domain as well as in the energy and digital transition.”

The results also helped Fincantieri make better-than-expected progress in its efforts to tackle its debt.

It improved its guidance for 2024 financial leverage to 4.5 to 5.5 times net financial position to Ebitda — a metric that gives a ratio of net debt to earnings.

The company had previously forecast 5.5 to 6.5 times net financial position to Ebtida.