Fincantieri earnings rise on higher Q1 production, revenue

The cruise delivery schedule continued as expected.

Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization were €101m on revenue of €1.43bn (excluding pass-through items), up from €72m EBITDA on revenue of €1.31bn in Q1 2020.

EBITDA margin

EBITDA margin (excluding pass-through items) edged up to 7% from 5.5% year over year.

Shipbuilding segment EBITDA rose to €100m on €1.28bn in revenue (excluding pass-through items) from €72m EBITDA on €1.13bn in revenue the year before. Of that, €926m in revenue was from cruise ships, up from €830m.

Cruise production back in full swing

Cruise ship production was back in full swing at all the group's yards. This year's schedule includes the delivery of five cruise ships from the Italian yards. Viking Venus, handed over to Viking Cruises on April 15, is among them. Three ships are due in Q3 and one in Q4.

Expedition vessel Coral Geographer was delivered to Coral Expeditions in Q1 by a Vard yard classified as 'offshore' rather than part of the cruise shipbuilding business.

Outside of Italy, the Vard cruise area is to deliver two ships in 2021, down from three in 2020.

Fincantieri CEO Giuseppe Bono welcomed the 'cautious resumption of cruise activities in Europe and the one that will shortly follow in the United States ... It should as well be noted how the cruise booking trend for 2022 is in line with and, in some cases, even better than the pre-pandemic levels,' he said.

Return to pre-pandemic growth

Fincantieri expects a return to pre-pandemic growth levels, with revenues to increase 'considerably' in the balance of the year.

Q1's €0.3bn in order intake added to total backlog 98 ships valued at €34.4bn including €7.9bn in soft backlog (options).