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Italian shipbuilding giant Fincantieri has once again reported a record quarter in terms of total backlog and the number of orders in the cruise business.

During the first quarter of 2019, the shipbuilder’s order intake was at EUR 6.5 billion with contracts signed for a total of 11 cruise ships for 5 different brands, including Oceania, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Viking, MSC, Princess.

Total backlog reached EUR 34.3 billion, covering approximately 6.3 times the 2018 revenues. Backlog for the same period last year stood at EUR 21.8 billion with 104 ships in the order book.

Revenues increased by 13% to EUR 1.38 billion, compared to EUR 1.22 billion reported in the same period a year earlier, in line with the growth expectations for 2019.

“The orders for the 11 cruise vessels signed in these three months translate into almost 27 billion euro generated to the benefit of the territories where we are located: this figure speaks for itself,” Giuseppe Bono, Fincantieri’s Chief Executive Officer, said.

“This is the first glimpse of a challenging year ahead of us, which will allow us to show our excellent production and system integration capabilities,” he added.

Revenues in the shipbuilding segment for the quarter reached EUR 1.11 billion, increasing by 8.8% when compared to the EUR 1.02 billion reported in the first quarter of 2018. The increase in revenues was linked to the higher volumes generated by the construction of cruise vessels, that recorded an increase of 13.1% if compared to the same period of 2018.

Fincantieri expects 2019 results to be in line with 2018 and consistent with the economic and financial forecast announced within the 2018-2022 Business Plan. In particular, for FY 2019 the revenue growth trend is confirmed, with an EBITDA margin in line with 2018.

In the shipbuilding segment, in the next quarters of 2019 the shipbuilder expects to deliver 8 ships, 6 cruise units and 2 naval vessels.