Fincantieri reports rise in first half profit, warns of outlook
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- Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen
- Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines
- Published: 21 September 2011 21 September 2011
Fincantieri, the Italian state owned shipbuilder that is the biggest builder of cruise liners, has reported an increase in first half profit before non-recurring and extraordinary expenses to €16 million from €12 million at the same time last year, the company said in a statement.
Operating profit (EBITDA) came to €59 million, with a margin of 5%, up from 4.3% in the first half of 2010, also thanks to measures making procurement more cost effective. “At 30 June 2011, the Fincantieri Groups order portfolio was worth €7,920 million. The associated order backlog, although a still significant €5,570 million, will continue to be insufficient to saturate production capacity at all the Group's shipyards,” Fincantieri noted.
“The shipbuilding industry continued to experience severe problems in the first half of the year due to the world economic crisis. The demand for new cruise ships has settled at around 6/8 ships a year (versus an average of 12 in the pre-crisis period), of which 2/3 ships acquirable by Fincantieri.”
The company noted shipbuilding crisis has significantly intensified price pressure on new orders. This pressure has been further heightened by the highly aggressive market entry strategies recently displayed by the cruise market in the Far East. “This market situation will create a mismatch, even prospectively, between Fincantieri’s production capacity and its order backlog acquired/acquirable. In fact, during the first half of 2011 surplus production capacity resulted in the total closure of certain shipyards serving the merchant market, while others are expected to experience problems on a similar or smaller scale in the near future.”
“Fincantieri is addressing this situation through a block on staff turnover, with a reduction of 115 in headcount in Italy since the end of 2010, and through agreement with the unions for the temporary lay-off of up to 3,000 workers, of whom 1,772 affected as of the end of June. Furthermore, in order to deal with increasingly fierce market competition, Fincantieri must continue, ever more resolutely, down the road of cost reduction by reorganizing and making processes more efficient and by improving productivity.”
P&O Cruises’ June order includes option for second ship
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- Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen
- Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines
- Published: 21 September 2011 21 September 2011
P&O Cruises, which on 1 June unveiled the news that it had ordered its largest ship so far, did not mention anything about an option for a second ship. However, most shipbuilding contracts do include one or more options for further vessels.
P&O Cruises have not so far either taken up or axed the option. The ship ordered in June will be delivered in 2015 and it will be a sister vessel to two similar sized vessels the Italian yard is building for P&O Cruises’ sister company Princess Cruises.
Carnival shares rise around 2% on third quarter interims
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- Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen
- Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines
- Published: 20 September 2011 20 September 2011
Shares in the two listed holding companies of Carnival Corp & plc, the world’s largest cruise shipping group, rose about 2% after the company had unveiled its better than anticipated third quarter interims.
Carnival plc shares riose 2.3% to £20.30 in London, outpacing a 0.79% rise of the FTSE 100 share index of leading shares at 3.20pm local time.
In New York, Carnival Corporation rose 1.83% to $32.84, markedly more than the 0.13% rise of the Dow Jones 500 leading share index.
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