Fincantieri in the spotlight amid rumours of a deal for NextGeo

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Purchased on Fincantieri on the Milan Stock Exchange (FTSE MIB). According to rumours reported by Il Corriere della Sera, the company is said to have expressed an interest in Next Geosolutions Europe, a company listed on the EGM and specialising in marine geoscience services, underwater surveys and support for the construction of offshore infrastructure, including subsea cables, oil & gas and floating wind farms.

NexGeo has a market capitalisation of approximately 730 million euros and closed 2025 with revenue of 267 million, EBITDA of 70 million and a net profit of close to 50 million, with an order book of 483 million. The company has not commented on the rumours. According to analysts at Intermonte, “the news should be treated as a rumour, but we consider it credible and strategically consistent”. Fincantieri, the brokers point out, raised around 500 million in a capital increase via an ABB last February with the aim of financing M&A in the underwater sector, and “NextGeo would bring immediately complementary expertise in surveying, marine geoscience, offshore energy infrastructure and subsea services. The target is not cheap, but it is a quality company: at current valuations, it is trading at around 10 times the 2025 EV/EBITDA ratio and 15 times the P/E ratio, with strong growth prospects and a cash-positive balance sheet”.

Experts also emphasise that, for Fincantieri, the deal ‘would make sense not so much as a simple means of generating revenue, but as a catalyst for transforming Underwater increasingly from a defence/torpedo-centric division into an integrated platform covering defence, energy, telecoms and critical subsea infrastructure”, in line with what was outlined during the presentation of the new Strategic Plan at the start of the year. “We therefore believe that this would be exactly the kind of deal needed to maximise the use of the proceeds from the capital increase. This is also taking into account the profitability of the potential target (an EBITDA margin of around 26% in 2025), which would be accretive to the EBITDA margin of Fincantieri’s Underwater division—which is already characterised by a significantly higher margin than the group’s other divisions (the underwater division’s EBITDA margin is estimated at around 18% for 2026).”

Equita points out that ‘NextGeo’s industrial profile and size could be compatible with Fincantieri’s growth strategy in the underwater sector and with the group’s financial firepower following the recent capital increase. Given the presence of a significant majority shareholder in NextGeo, any potential transaction would need to be agreed upon”.