Earnings call transcript: Fincantieri Q1 2025 revenue surges 34.5%, stock dips

Published 12/05/2025, 17:08
Earnings call transcript: Fincantieri Q1 2025 revenue surges 34.5%, stock dips

Fincantieri SpA reported a strong financial performance for the first quarter of 2025, with revenues increasing by 34.5% year-over-year to €2,376 million. EBITDA rose by 53.5% to €154 million, improving the EBITDA margin to 6.5% from 5.7% in Q1 2024. Despite these robust results, the company’s stock fell by 6.44% in market trading, closing at €12.27. According to InvestingPro data, the company trades at a P/E ratio of 10.77, suggesting a relatively modest valuation compared to industry peers. InvestingPro analysis indicates the stock may be undervalued based on current fundamentals. The decline in stock price may reflect investor concerns over the broader market conditions or sector-specific challenges.

Key Takeaways

  • Revenue for Q1 2025 increased by 34.5% year-over-year.
  • EBITDA grew significantly by 53.5%, with an improved margin.
  • The stock price dropped by 6.44% post-earnings announcement.
  • Strong order intake and backlog, indicating future growth potential.
  • New product launches and technological advancements in the underwater segment.

Company Performance

Fincantieri’s performance in Q1 2025 demonstrated significant growth across its business segments, particularly in shipbuilding and offshore operations. The company continues to capitalize on strong demand in the cruise market and increasing global defense spending. InvestingPro data shows the company maintains a strong financial health score of 3.21 (rated as "GREAT"), with particularly high marks in profit (3.5) and cash flow (3.43) metrics. For deeper insights into Fincantieri’s financial health and growth prospects, investors can access the comprehensive Pro Research Report, available exclusively to InvestingPro subscribers. The introduction of new technologies and products, such as green ship technologies and the new Underwater segment, highlights Fincantieri’s focus on innovation and sustainability.

Financial Highlights

  • Revenue: €2,376 million, up 34.5% year-over-year.
  • EBITDA: €154 million, an increase of 53.5%.
  • EBITDA margin: Improved to 6.5% from 5.7% in Q1 2024.
  • Net debt-to-EBITDA ratio: 2.9x.
  • Order intake: €11.7 billion, 4.9x revenues.
  • Total backlog: €57.6 billion, 7.1x 2024 revenues.

Outlook & Guidance

Fincantieri confirmed its financial guidance for 2025, with expectations of continued growth driven by a strong commercial pipeline of €21 billion across various segments. InvestingPro has identified multiple bullish indicators for the company, including expected net income growth this year and strong returns over multiple time periods. InvestingPro subscribers have access to over 10 additional ProTips and detailed valuation metrics that provide crucial insights into Fincantieri’s growth trajectory. The company is considering a reassessment of its business plan, focusing on potential opportunities in the defense sector. This strategic direction aims to leverage the growing demand for naval and submarine vessels.

Executive Commentary

CEO Pietro Roberto Folgero emphasized the company’s strategic advancements, stating, "We are successfully implementing the group strategy in the underwater domain." He also highlighted the importance of digitalization and capacity, noting that "digitalization transitions are hand in hand" and "capacity is the name of the game."

Risks and Challenges

  • Market volatility impacting investor sentiment and stock performance.
  • Potential supply chain disruptions affecting production timelines.
  • Macroeconomic factors influencing global demand for cruise and defense products.
  • Competitive pressures in the shipbuilding and underwater technology markets.
  • Regulatory changes affecting environmental compliance and operations.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about Fincantieri’s potential expansion into the US shipbuilding market, pricing strategies in the cruise sector, and the drivers of the offshore market. The company provided insights into its resilience in pricing and the strong prospects in the submarine market, underscoring its strategic focus on capacity and innovation.

Full transcript - Fincantieri SpA (FCT) Q1 2025:

Conference Operator, Chorus Call: Good afternoon. This is the Chorus Call conference operator. Welcome and thank you for joining the Ficantieri First Quarter twenty twenty five Results Conference Call. As a reminder, participants are in listen only mode. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions.

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Folgero, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director. Please go ahead, sir.

Pietro Roberto Folgero, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Fincantieri: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining us on Fincantieri’s first quarter twenty twenty five results conference call. We are pleased to present a strong set of results for the first quarter of the year, building on an highly successful 2024. We continue to see the tangible results of our strategy well ahead of our plan and are consistently delivering substantial value generation for Fincantieri and its stakeholders. We recorded performance in all of our key financials and metrics, putting the group firmly on track to achieve its 2025 guidance. Following the recent acquisitions, we launched the new Underwater segment, which marks a key milestone in the group’s industrial vision.

Further details will be provided in the upcoming pages. Let’s now move to Page four for a brief summary of the financial and commercial highlights for Q1 twenty twenty five. Revenues increased by 34.5% year on year to €2,376,000 underpinned by a positive contribution from all segments, in particular, shipbuilding, which posted a 39.5 growth compared to the first quarter of twenty twenty four, also thanks to the positive impact of the Indonesia contract. Thanks to the virtuous path pursued by Fincantieri over the last years, we are also delivering a significant increase in profitability. EBITDA recorded an impressive growth of 53.5%, one hundred and fifty four million euros with margin at 6.5%, a material increase compared to the 5.7% achieved in Q1 twenty twenty four and six point three percent reported at year end of twenty twenty four.

Our net debt improved significantly compared to the first quarter of twenty twenty four and was marginally better than full year 2024 with a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 2.9 times. Moving on to our commercial performance on Page five. We achieved impressive results in the first quarter. We recorded out best ever quarterly performance with order intake totaling €11,700,000,000 showing an extraordinary growth compared to Q1 twenty twenty four and approximately three quarters of the entire record order intake of 2024 with a book to bill ratio of 4.9 times revenues. As a result, the backlog reached €40,300,000,000 up 30.2% compared to the full year 2024, with the total backlog reaching an impressive €57,600,000,000 and equal to 7.1 times full year 2024 revenues.

As previously mentioned, starting from January 2025, we have created the new underwater segment to fully unlock Fincantieri’s potential in this market. Building on the solid legacy in submarines, effectors and sonars, Finkelteri is expanding into the broader underwater ecosystem, combining expertise, well established technologies and non conventional innovation to lead the transformation. At the organizational level, the new Underwater segment combines all the entities contributing to the underwater dimension under one single roof. The new segment includes Bus Sunmarine Systems consolidated at the beginning of 2025, the submarine business previously included in the Shipbuilding Naval segment, including the U-two 12 near future submarine program for the Italian Navy, Remodel Engineering, formerly part of Mechatronics cluster and Unmanaged Systems and Underwater business line of IDS, previously part of the Electronics and Digital Products cluster. Moving to our order book at Page eight.

As you can see, as of thirty one March twenty twenty five, we delivered four units. As we speak, we have a full slate of deliveries scheduled for the medium to long term, offering a clear and profound visibility for the years to come. Our impressive backlog has been further enriched with the order of four jumbo cruise ships for the Norwegian Cruise Line brand, which extends the delivery time to 2,036. As of March 2025, Cruises accounted for 34 units in portfolio, defense for 29, underwater for four submarines and offshore for 35, for a total of hundred and two units, four more units compared to the end of twenty twenty four, with a robust backlog of €40,300,000,000 Looking ahead, we see further opportunities in strengthening our order intakes, thanks to a commercial pipeline in which we are actively participating of approximately €21,000,000,000 across all business segments. Now I will hand the call over to Giuseppe, who will discuss our financial results in more detail.

Please, Giuseppe. Yes. Good afternoon, everybody. Moving on to Page ten and eleven, which I’ll do together on order intake. Pedro Berto has said almost everything.

But on the deep dive on the €11,000,000,000 we have four ships for Norwegian Cruise Lines, four further cruise ships for Viking cruises. And for this client, we have reached a total number of 22 ships of the same type built all in Italy and of course the two multipurpose combat vessels for Indonesia. Also the underwater closed with €84,000,000 in orders and we expect a further pickup on this segment for the orders to come. And when we go to Page 11, we can see that the total backlog reached almost €58,000,000,000 but we can appreciate also the quality of the numbers because soft backlog well, hard backlog increased by 9,000,000,000 notwithstanding the revenues and also the soft backlog has been increased comparatively to the numbers at the end of twenty twenty four with further opportunities that will quickly become orders in the next quarters. Soft backlog as well includes the opportunities we have within the Italian Navy under the Italian defense multiyear plan of twenty twenty four, twenty twenty six.

So we expect orders coming in the next quarters and next year. And let’s now move to Page 12. Revenues €2,400,000,000 up to 34.5% quarter over quarter with an increase strong increase in shipbuilding, which posted a 39.5% increase compared to the same period of last year. And of course, this has come also from the positive impact of the Indonesia contract. Shipbuilding accounted for almost 72% of group revenues.

Cruise, 41.1% and defense increased to 30.3%. We have offshore and specialized vessels that grew almost seven percent quarter over quarter and they take roughly 12.5% of the total revenues. And also for the first time, of course, underwater revenues and this underwater revenues at this point in time constitute 3.7% of the group revenues. And in this quarter, we have consolidated VaaS starting from mid January. In this segment, we expect a significant acceleration of revenue growth in the second half of the year, in line with our expected order and delivery schedule.

Equipment Systems and Infrastructure represented 12% of total revenues and delivered almost 14% year on year increase, thanks to the good performance across all clusters. Substantial, I would say, increase of EBITDA up 53.5% to €154,000,000 with a margin at 6.5%. With a growth of 80 basis points year on year and improved also compared to what we reported at the end of twenty twenty four. Going through the segments, Shipbuilding recorded an EBITDA of €125,000,000 increasing by 53.3% versus first quarter of last year with a margin of 6.8, up 60 basis points. And this is a result of the continuous improvement of operational efficiency initiatives and the more profitable business mix that we recorded in this first quarter.

Offshore EBITDA, euros 15,000,000 increased by almost 17% compared to March 2024 with a margin of 4.7%, also improved 40 basis points. Underwater delivered an EBITDA of €60,000,000 and an EBITDA margin of 17%. And this it testifies the sector’s premium profitability, which is significantly higher compared to our legacy shipbuilding business. In the Equipment Systems and Infrastructure segment, EBITDA increased by 11.8%, reaching €50,000,000 with a margin of 4.9%, which is roughly in line with the first quarter of twenty twenty four. And this is despite the fact that Remozel exited this segment being now aggregated within the underwater business.

On Page 14, deleveraging is accelerating. As Pierre Roberto mentioned before, we are roughly below three times EBITDA considering last twelve months EBITDA at 2.9%. Net debt slightly improved compared to the figure as of the end of twenty twenty four. The 1,668,000,000 does not include the proceeds from the capital increase, which were expended in the first quarter through the payment of the purchase price of a bus. Net working capital is broadly in line, I would say, with the end of twenty twenty four.

We had an increase in accounts payable that offset the increase of the main components of the asset side of the net working capital. Now back to Pierre Roberto for the final wrap up and some key takeaways. Thank you. Thank you, Josep. The strong performance achieved in the first quarter of twenty twenty five reinforces the company’s growth outlook across its all core sectors, driven by favorable macroeconomic trends in the cruise ship market, the expected rise in defense spending and the increasing demand for offshore energy resources.

These dynamics create compelling business opportunities in both the wind and the oil and gas industries as well as new avenues for development in the underwater domain. We have an impressive order book with visibility up to 2,036 and a strong commercial pipeline market by further acceleration. The cruise business continues to deliver an impressive growth in demand, which we are satisfying with an extension of our delivery schedules over time in order to maintain a stable annual revenue base and the full occupancy for our yards in order to increase our margins and neutralize cash absorption. In defense, we are witnessing a favorable macro trend internationally that translates into more than €20,000,000,000 of potential market opportunities. The execution of our strategy is delivering remarkable results also in Q1 twenty twenty five.

Revenues rose by 34.5% year on year. EBITDA recorded an impressive growth of 53.5% with increasing margin at 6.5%. And we are successfully implementing the group strategy in the underwater domain, further strengthening by the creation of our new underwater segment. Also, thanks to the strong results achieved in Q1 twenty twenty five, we confirm our guidance for 2025. With that, we are now open to take your questions.

Conference Operator, Chorus Call: Thank you. This is the Chorus Call conference operator. We will now begin the question and answer session. The first question is from Alessandro Pozzi of Mediobanca.

Alessandro Pozzi, Analyst, Mediobanca: Hi there. Good afternoon and thank you for taking my questions. Have three. First one is with regards to The US. Last month, president Trump signed an executive order supporting the shipbuilding sector.

I was wondering also in light of the joint statement with the Italian prime minister, how that could translate into potential new opportunities for Sinkentieri in the short term. The second question is on the price of order intake that you have recorded in Q1, a lot of orders in cruise. Maybe it’s probably a good time for an update on the pricing dynamics in the cruise market also in light of your push towards digitalization. I believe the first Navi Sapiens will be delivered by the end of the year and possibly that would come with maybe higher margin. So maybe your thoughts on margins going forward in cruise?

And if I may, last one on the new underwater segment. Can you give us a bit more color on the strong progression year on year, both in terms of revenues and margins? I suspect it’s linked to the two twelve program, but any additional thoughts on that will be appreciated. Thank you.

Pietro Roberto Folgero, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Fincantieri: Thank you very much. Thank you very much for your questions. Number one, U. S. I’m sure you have noticed from here, from Italy, that the trip of our Prime Minister, Meroni, to U.

S. Was remarkably successful. And if you go through the joint statement of the two presidents, you will appreciate that shipbuilding is expressly mentioned as one of the most explicit area of cooperation. In particular, considering Fincantieri a partner that could enable and support a kind of renaissance of shipbuilding in U. S.

So this is the big picture. This is the big picture. I would say that the that a number of things are following, including executive orders as well as the creation of a dedicated department and office in order to take care of this shipbuilding renaissance. I think there are three legs of the story here. One leg is obviously to foster our defense business and I would say debottleneck the performance of the existing defense shipyard in U.

S, including ours in Marinette. But most importantly, there are other two legs. One is the possibility to support not only the defense business, but also the civilian business. And in the civilian business, we have a big opportunity because we have a civilian shipyard, who is a kind which is a kind of hybrid shipyard, I. E, working for Marinette and working for the civilian private sector, which is our shipyard in Storzon Bay.

And we are seriously thinking to increase the throughput capacity of the shipyard and also to focus it to new strategic ships, namely icebreakers. We believe that icebreakers will be a new very strategic kind of product for U. S. There is a huge attention for the new Arctic routes, which are increasingly important for the administration. And we believe that a good example of technology driven shipbuilding is icebreakers.

And we have in Vard in Norway, for sure, a center of excellence in term of design of icebreakers and references past references for it to happen. The third leg of the story has to do with the possibility to expand upon the right conditions our capacity in Florida. Pinker Tieri has already a presence in Jacksonville, which is as of today expected to become a repair and maintenance place for destroyers and frigates. Frigates built by Fincantieri when they will be floating and also destroyers, meaning the existing ships that need repair and maintenance services in that part of the coast. But we can even think to expand our throughput capacity, our footprint in Jacksonville, which means Florida, which means also availability of workers and the different, I would say, supply chain ecosystem.

So those are the three legs of the story. We are very involved and very committed to better evaluate alternative scenarios there. So we are very, I would say, positive in that respect. The ultimate results of this analysis will become evident in the within the end of the year, which is a moment in which we are in general and more in general thinking to reshape our business plan and therefore include possibly extra opportunities, for example, in that market. Moving to your second question, which has to do with pricing dynamics related and correlated to the peculiar market conditions we are living.

Let me tell you that kind of price resilience, it is what we are pursuing from the very beginning. This kind of posture is associated with a number of other initiatives and measures we are undertaking in order to enhance profitability, decrease execution risks and maximize all the opportunities for increasing margins. So the answer is yes. There is a dynamic on the pricing, but it is not alone. It is in association with other measures.

And all in all, it is the engine behind the enhancement of profitability and marginality you are experiencing in our numbers in the recent quarters. So it is not by choice or by fortune that margins are increasing. It is a combination of simultaneous big efforts, including the effort of rebalancing the bargaining power in a moment in which it is, I would say, possibly doable. Moving to your third question, Underwater. Let me say that it will be the name of the game during our Capital Market Day event to be held in Milan next week, precisely on the 2019.

So I will and I am encouraging you all to take part to that event because it has been expressly intended to give as much colors as possible in order for you to better appreciate, which is the size of the opportunity. Let me anticipate that the all the, I would say, products, including the existing ones, are proving to be in very good shape, specifically in term of commercial prospects and outlook. Let me touch base for a moment on the submarines, which is for sure a legacy product, which is in a sense covering the vast majority of the existing backlog and revenues. Let me tell you that we are involved in multiple opportunities. We made a specific announcement for Philippines, for example.

We are at the same time involved in Poland. We are at the same time involved in Greece. We are at the same time involved in Indonesia. Just to tell you how much our product is in term of quality and characteristics of the product and in term of reliability of Fincantieri product as we were anticipating since a couple of years, underwater will be very important starting from today, starting from the defense, starting from the submarines, but not only, but not only. So if you want to better understand the potential we intend to unlock, I strongly encourage you to join us in Milan next week.

Alessandro Pozzi, Analyst, Mediobanca: Absolutely. I will see you there next week. Just a follow-up on your remarks. Should we expect an updated business plan for the group level before year end?

Pietro Roberto Folgero, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Fincantieri: We are absolutely working in that sense. We want to also evaluate which are the impacts for Fincantieri of the new, I would say, European and obviously Italian investment program in defense. I think it is, for sure, one of the discontinuities we should reassess in our business plan. And I think our business plan was very ambitious, the one we issued at the end of twenty twenty two, and we are so satisfied with that because we are achieving every milestone in due time or even in better fashion, I would say. But I think it’s time for us to reassess the defense potential on the one hand.

On the other hand, it’s time also for us to rebaseline the next five years, even if the business plan is 100% achieved. The reason why we are waiting for the right moment, it is I’m a great believer that business plan, once you issue, they are written in stone. So when I make public a number, in particular, at year two, year three, year four, I want the number to remain until you achieve it. So I don’t like the replanning because it’s a way to re confuse the waters. I like clean waters when it comes to long term projections.

But I think there are extra opportunities that are important enough for us to pursue a replanning exercise.

Alessandro Pozzi, Analyst, Mediobanca: Thank you very much. Very clear.

Conference Operator, Chorus Call: The next question is from Antonio Gianfrancesco, Intermonte.

Antonio Gianfrancesco, Analyst, Intermonte: Good afternoon and thank you for taking my question. I have two please. The first one is on the net financial position EBITDA guidance for the 2025. You have confirmed the guidance for a stable evolution of debt ratio at 3.3 times as of the end of twenty twenty four. In light of the results you are achieving, this target seems to be, let’s say, a bit conservative.

So I was wondering if you could give us a little more color on what are the main factors driving the setting of this target and whether you expect any debt pressure during the year? My second is about commercial momentum in the defense segment. How do you see development in this market? And in particular, what are your expectation about the tender in which you are in the running right now? So the one for the Fligates to the Norwegian Navy in which you are on the shore list and one for the two submariners for the Philippine Navy in cooperation with the same group marine systems.

Pietro Roberto Folgero, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Fincantieri: Thank you. On the net financial position side, the story is always the same. When it comes to cash, we like to see how the year is developing. There are certain events that we want to we want them to materialize. We are, I would say, monitoring those events and we believe that, as you said, the existing guidance is very achievable, I would say.

We are very comfortable with that target. There is always the possibility that once we have, I would say, 100% clarity on certain matters, we will be more than happy to improve the guidance as we have been constantly doing in the recent past. Giuseppe, please? To your specific question, do we expect debt pressure? No.

As a matter of fact, the interest rate environment is becoming more and more positive. We do not expect any pressure on debt or interest cost whatsoever. So we’re pretty as Roberto said, the target was conservative, but we are pretty confident on the target itself and on maybe on a revision of the target throughout the year. Moving to your second question with respect to defense and short term opportunities, there are several opportunities that are there. The decision process of clients are as usual in this kind of business and in similar businesses are going by stages, going by phases.

We are well positioned on the initiative you are mentioning, but not only those. So let me be a little bit schematic. I don’t want and I don’t need to give you more color about Philippines and Norway apart from confirming that we are well positioned. But I want to do more. I want to tell you that there are other opportunities in which we are very well positioned.

And again, there is no fast track decision in defense. It’s a business in which you have to cultivate initiatives, you have to have several at the same time because they don’t go necessarily fast track. But what the very good news is that overall, the magnitude of the opportunities are big and increasing and Fincantieri product is appreciated for its value for money proposition. So the fact that we work in the private, civilian and defense at the same time provides us with a level of competitiveness, which is proving to be very important because it is coupled with very well proven product. So tangible, measurable, touchable, existing platforms and then most importantly, timing, timing.

So in the current situation, in the current geopoliticalemotional situation, end users want fast deliveries. So what Fincantieri can put on the table is very good product, very competitive price and a schedule, which is faster than the other from time to time, simply because we are a large setup with the biorhythms that are the biorhythms of the private civilian sector, I. E, if we need to run like Davis, we are trained to be faster than the others.

Antonio Gianfrancesco, Analyst, Intermonte: Very clear. Thank you.

Conference Operator, Chorus Call: The next question is from Emmanuel Galazzi of Equita.

Emmanuel Galazzi, Analyst, Equita: Good afternoon, everybody. Let’s say a couple of questions left, one on the offshore business and the other one on cruise. But starting with the offshore, what we have seen is an additional 40 bps margin expansion, I would say, an healthy path since the relaunch of this business unit. Can you just share with us your expectation for the offshore business going forward? And maybe an idea on the commercial pipeline for this division?

The second one is on the cruise business. Basically, we have seen some, let’s say, innovative orders like the one for Viking. Was wondering if you are seeing, say, an acceleration of demand for green or low emission ships? And where do you see yourself in the competitive landscape for these ships? Thank you.

Pietro Roberto Folgero, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Fincantieri: Thank you very much. On commercial outlook on offshore, let me, I would say, little bit contradict you in the sense that as of today, it’s a capacity driven business. So it is not a matter of where the market is going, but it’s rather a market of where capacity is going. So if we would have had more capacity, we would have been in the position to sell much more. So the issue is whether and under which condition capacity can be increased.

And also in this respect, we are very well positioned because we have two engines, two production engines, one is Romania and the other is Vietra. Norway is the way we go for the outfitting. So is the place in which we take care of the engineering, so the very beginning and then the commissioning and the final outfitting. And therefore, Norway is not necessarily bottleneck. So we have a very large setup in Romania, where we have something like 6,000 people working on the steel fabrication erection all the way to achieving the blocks, I.

E, portion of the ship that then we deliver either to Italy, if they are cruise ships or to additional activity and then to Norway. So I believe that the visibility is so big that it’s more a matter of even deciding to increase capacity. Vietram could be the place. The fact that we have such a well proven industrial setup in Vietnam is a big opportunity, because Vietnam is a place in which you can expand capacity, you find workers and we are very satisfied with the performance of our people and of our shipyard in Vietra. So I wouldn’t put the accent on the demand, which is there stable and visible.

I would rather put the accent on capacity because it could be an extra source of growth in case we decide to put more skin in the game. Green ships in the cruise. I believe that in the last three years, we have definitely positioned Fincantieri at the forefronts of all the innovation places in term of new propulsion systems and not only. So I believe that as of today, vis a vis the competition, we can provide a full set of solutions ranging from the, I would say, drop in fuels moving to meaning the renewable diesel HBO. Then we are, I would say, absolutely in first line in LNG and methanol, which are the two LNG more methanol less, but are the first two alternative fuels.

And then we have occupied also the third big topic, which is the modernization of hydrogen, which we are pursuing in two ways: One, transforming onboard natural gas into hydrogen and then giving hydrogen to fuel cells and two, onboarding hydrogen and then giving it to solid oxide for fuel cells, which is the solution we have promoted in Miami a few weeks ago, which is truly transformational because it’s addressing and killing the biggest issue of hydrogen at sea, which is the existence or better the nonexistence of distribution facilities, of distribution pipelines, of available storage of hydrogen in the right places in the different harbors and ports. Let me add another layer, which is enabling indirectly also energy transition, which is what we are doing for the digitalization of the ship. So digitalization transitions are hand in hand. And what we are doing with our new product, which we called Navi Sapiens, it is a real thing. It’s real stuff.

And also in this respect, I believe we are pioneering and occupying the competitive space with a big acceleration vis a vis the past.

Emmanuel Galazzi, Analyst, Equita: Thank you very much. Very clear.

Conference Operator, Chorus Call: The next question is from Lukas Frannie of Jefferies.

Lukas Frannie, Analyst, Jefferies: Good afternoon and thanks for taking the time. I have a few questions as well, if we can take them one at a time. Just the first one was just a follow-up on offshore. I think we were getting the sense that potentially there would be actually a slowdown in demand when we look S.

Offshore wind. I know you’re not necessarily in that segment, but generally what we hear on offshore wind and seeing kind of the order intake a bit lower year on year last year. So it was interesting to hear the comment. My question is why do you think we’re not seeing as big of a backlog if it’s very much capacity driven business compared to, for example, what we see in cruise where there are clear signs that the demand is there? Thank you.

Pietro Roberto Folgero, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Fincantieri: If I properly understood your question, you want more color about which are the possible which is the demand in the offshore business. First of all, offshore is not only wind. So wind is one of the possible opportunities. Oil and gas is picking up, again, remarkably and will more and more. The third is cable layers, and again, is not wind farms.

And I just mentioned you, for example, this vision on icebreakers. So just to tell you how much there are a combination of different, I would say, market trends behind our know how in offshore vessels. And there is then an additional one, which is somehow at the border between offshore and underwater. So also the underwater dimension, the expansion of the underwater dimension is means among other things also a new demand for surface ships taking care of offshore operations, either white ships and gray ships, ships, sorry. White ships meaning there is a big unattended demand for vessels taking care of the repair and maintenance of underwater cables.

It is one of the priority of European Union that is even thinking to create some incentives and some facilitations for new investments. And then also in term of gray ships. So even the navies are thinking of these new surface ships, which are made of steel, 90 meters, with all the 80 meters, with all the typical stabilizing systems that are used in the offshore construction because they need to oversee and coordinate military offshore operations. So also this is a new concept, which is already much more than a concept. So it’s something we are taking care of in term of engineering, in term of requirements that the Navy is thinking of kind of multiple different drones to be carried by this kind of ship, either underwater drones or either ROVs, wired ROVs for underwater operations, demining.

So all in all, this is, I think, a good set of examples related to why the demand is so big and the capacity is the real issue.

Lukas Frannie, Analyst, Jefferies: Thank you. Yes, that’s really clear. And then another one was just on the phasing of revenues for this year. So Q1 is usually the weakest quarter and then we see kind of acceleration throughout the year into Q4. I guess you’re already on quite elevated levels in Q1 that would put you potentially way above the guidance if you follow the usual pattern.

Is there anything to highlight on the phasing of revenues for the quarters this year?

Pietro Roberto Folgero, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Fincantieri: I wouldn’t project the performance of the first quarter arithmetically by four. Sorry for being so blunt. And I would typically never suggest to approach a business made of investment decision of clients as a linear business. It’s never linear. My point is that when I go for planning, I like companies driven by order intake and projects acquisition.

I like planning whereby the revenues are at least equal or better, the order intake, I. E, the acquisitions are at least equal to revenues because this is meaning that we are substituting backlog in an accretive way, where accretive means growing. I believe that we have already achieved this status, which is a desirable one. So we are already there. I think we can do better.

At the same time, we have a backlog of €57,000,000,000 which is, I would say, the record ever. So for the rest of the year, there are other opportunities for sure. But again, capacity is the name of the game. So I believe we are in very good shape. Let me say, the big task is not necessarily to grow, but is to take advantage of this saturation of shipyards, in particular, in cruise, for example, in order to translate volumes into bottom line and bottom line into cash flows.

So the more we have long term visibility, the more the focus is not growing for the sake of growing, but is how to take advantage of this, I would say, very positive market conditions and backlog stratification in order to give satisfactions in term of translation into bottom line and cash flow.

Lukas Frannie, Analyst, Jefferies: Very clear. Thank you.

Conference Operator, Chorus Call: The next question is from Gabiyele Gambarova of Intesa Sanpaolo.

Gabriele Gambarova, Analyst, Intesa Sanpaolo: Yes. Good evening, Alberto and Juliet. Just a few questions. The first one is on this industrial cooperation agreement with Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems. I was wondering if it’s something that we should think of only relating to this opportunity in The Philippines that appears to be material or it can become something, let’s say, wider, more strategic.

And in general, I would ask you what are your thoughts about this group? What’s the situation? I know that it should go on the market to be listed, but apparently there is no, let’s say, industrial partner as far as I know. But ask you some more color on this situation. Thank you.

Pietro Roberto Folgero, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Fincantieri: Thank you for your question. TKMS, it’s a very good company. They have probably the best available product on the market in term of performance, in term of submarines are on top of being, I would say, safe and secure. The two very important dimensions are the stealthness and the endurance. In terms of stealthness and endurance, it’s a very sophisticated submarine.

And TKMS has a very strong brand in the sense that they’ve been associated with this kind of submarine since many years. The collaboration with Fincantieri is very powerful simply because we know each other since twenty five years. Obviously, we have very, very long routes as well in this industry. We have been building submarines, tens of submarines for tens of years. But in the last twenty five years, we have, in a sense, overlapped our experiences.

And today, Fincantieri is a very valid alternative to TKMS product more and more. So the cooperation is the name of the game because we can support each other in key geographies, and we can support each other also in terms of production capacity, which, again, when the market is very high, is what you have to think about and prepare to do. So that’s what we are doing with them. Philippines, it’s a very, I would say, indicative and I would say, illustrative example of this win win collaboration. How to join forces and how to maximize production capacity is the name of the game and is the future of the collaboration.

We have very, very, I would say, clearly and even vocally expressed our readiness to explore any possible collaboration from commercial collaboration onwards with them because we were sure, as we are sure, that there is a big market in front of us and is in the mutual interest to find a setup whereby we don’t leave business on the table and we join forces in order to procure that this very well proven product is the and being the best available technology is the submarine of choice for navies that want to embark into the underwater dimension.

Gabriele Gambarova, Analyst, Intesa Sanpaolo: Okay. Thank you very much. My second and last question is on the Q1 results, if I may. And with regards to the contribution of this important, let’s say, contract in Indonesia for revenues and EBITDA. I was wondering if you can be more precise on the contribution, at least in terms of revenues and if this event was factored in your fiscal year 2025 guidance.

Thank you.

Pietro Roberto Folgero, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Fincantieri: Revenues recognition for the Indonesia project was obviously included in our projection for 2025, included in the guidance. The order of magnitude of the project, we don’t like to disclose these kind of numbers because it’s I don’t think there is a lot of added value. What is very important is that we have full visibility of those revenues. So there is no risk of the revenue recognition of Indonesia simply because the contract is in full force, down payment is there, all the signature is there, all the relevant authorizations from Italian government for export license are there. And there is no construction risk, which is the typical risk you anyway incur despite you have authorization and contract in force.

So once you have all the paperwork done, this transaction is, I would say, truly de risked vis a vis ordinary projects. So it’s a very good deal, very important deal. As you may remember, not only we are selling these ships, but we are also at the same time having an equivalent order from the Italian Navy to substitute the two PPAs that we are selling. So it’s truly a deal having a short term effect and a long term effect, and we are on top of it, and I don’t see any specific risk to disclose.

Antonio Gianfrancesco, Analyst, Intermonte: Thank you very much.

Conference Operator, Chorus Call: Gentlemen, there are no more questions registered at this time.

Pietro Roberto Folgero, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Fincantieri: Thank you very much. Thank you for your attention. You. Bye now. Thank you very much.

Bye bye. Take care.

Conference Operator, Chorus Call: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over. You may disconnect your telephones.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

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