Italian yard group Fincantieri has logged better profit in the first quarter as its backlog swelled further.
The cruiseship giant said EBITDA was EUR 89m ($105.86m) to 31 March, up from EUR 67m a year ago.
Revenue was up at EUR 1.22bn from EUR 1.1bn, while the total orderbook including options stood at more than EUR 27.7bn, covering five and a half years of work.
It added six more cruise vessels for Torstein Hagen's Viking Cruises in the period.
Net debt grew to EUR 446m up from EUR 314m at 31 December, 2017
The change was mainly due to the financial flows of the cruise business, characterised by significant growth of volumes, it said.
CEO Giuseppe Bono said the results were a confirmation of its strategic lines of development and in line with growth trends registered in the past two years.
"With production volumes and margins yet again growing, our company continues to prove its ability to create value in an extremely complex sector.”
He added: “Bolstered by this important first step, we will continue along the growth path that will see us taking center stage in the world shipbuilding industry in the coming years”.
