Fincantieri, accounts up in the quarter. 2024 guidance confirmed

After announcing the closing of the deal on the former Wass, which the group will take over from Leonardo for a consideration of EUR 415 million, Fincantieri arrives at the quarterly results milestone with revenues stable at EUR 1.8 billion (+0.2% compared to the same period of 2023), ebitda of EUR 100 million, up around 16% on the year before, and an ebitda margin at 5.7%, a significant improvement compared to 4.9% in the first quarter of 2023 and 5.2% at the end of 2023.

"We are very satisfied with the results obtained in the first quarter of 2024, which confirm and improve on last year's excellent performance in economic, financial and commercial terms," commented the number one, Pierroberto Folgiero. "The orders for the first months of the year saw further confirmation of the robust growth in demand in both the civil and military sectors in which we opened up the South East Asian market, which, together with the Middle East, was a strategic objective of the industrial plan. The 16% increase in ebitda in absolute terms and the significant improvement in the percentage margin, up 0.8 points compared to the first quarter of 2023, testify to the effectiveness of the actions foreseen in the business plan aimed at organically increasing profitability.

As for the deal on the former Wass, 'the acquisition of the Underwater Armament Systems business line from Leonardo is a significant step that further strengthens our position in the increasingly geopolitically relevant underwater and naval defence sector,' Folgiero added. 'It is an agreement that will allow us to accelerate our technology integration strategy and enable us to offer new solutions and new assets to our customers in the new underwater domain.

Returning to the numbers, the net financial position was negative at EUR 2.4 billion, a marked improvement compared to Q1 2023 (EUR 2.9 billion) and broadly in line with EUR 2,271 million at the end of 2023.

On the order front, the total order backlog reached record levels, the company explained in a note, and amounted to EUR 39.3 billion, about 5.1 times the revenue realised in 2023, confirming a strong commercial development in all business areas with a soft backlog of EUR 17.3 billion.