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In the first half of 2015 Italian shipbuilding major Fincantieri posted a profit of EUR 12 million (USD 13.1 million), cut by a half when compared to the profit of EUR 24 million in the first half of 2014.

Profit loss for the period amounted to a negative EUR 19 million for the first half of 2015 against a positive EUR 33 million at 30 June 2014, Fincantieri said in its half-year results.

The downturn was attributed to higher financial costs, reduced margins of cruise ships currently under construction, production complexity related to volumes increase and the persisting crisis in the oil and gas market which saw offshore-related orders dwindle.

With respect to net financial position, Fincantieri reported net debt of EUR 220 million at 30 June 2015, mainly due to the growth in funding requirements for increased activities in the cruise ship business.

Revenue and income amounted to EUR 2,220 million in the first half of 2015, reporting an increase of 12% compared to 1,983 million in the same period of 2014, mainly due to higher volumes in the cruise business, which accounted for 37% of the group’s total revenues for the period (31% in the same period of 2014).

The shipbuilder secured new orders totaling EUR 4.2 billion compared to EUR 3.4 billion in the corresponding period of 2014.

The shipbuilder’s book-to-bill ratio (order intake/revenues) equaled to 1.9 against 1.7 at 30 June 2014.

Of the total new orders 90% relates to the shipbuilding segment (69% at 30 June 2014), 3% to the Offshore segment (29% at 30 June 2014), and 8% to the Equipment, Systems and Services segment (3% at 30 June 2014).

” In the first half of 2015, we achieved significant commercial results. Order book and backlog reached record values amounting respectively to EUR 16 and 12 billion. In addition to this the group could count on a significant soft backlog of 7.2 billion which translates into expected values of order book and backlog of over EUR 23 and 19 billion,” said Giuseppe Bono, Fincantieri’s Chief Executive Officer.

According to Bono, revenues significantly increased from last year mainly due to higher volumes in cruise business, with 11 units under construction at the Italian facilities.

“Finally, notwithstanding the fact that the offshore segment is still affected by the decrease in profitability mainly due to the persisting crisis in the oil and gas market and still weak operating performance of Brazilian shipyards, the group profit was positive and all the effort put in place will allow significant growth in production volumes for the years to come,” Bono added.