The Board of Directors of Fincantieri has approved the proposed financial statement for the year ending 31st December 2005 which reports a net profit of 48.5 million euros.
The Board has decided to propose to the Shareholders the payment of a dividend of 10.1 million euros, equivalent to 3% of the share capital.
The profit of 48.5 million euros (profit before tax amounts to 99.8 million euros compared to 149.1 the previous year) compares to the exceptionally high figure of 99.5 million in 2004.
The most important factors in determining the result were the increase in the cost of several items and services, including the price of steel, energy and insurance on ships under construction.
Moreover, the persisting weakness of the dollar against the euro has given rise to a delicate situation competitive scenario; the company is facing the effects of this situation by managing its operations effectively and by investing substantially in research and innovation – almost 50 million euros, which continue to be a key, determining factor for Fincantieri, which works in market areas featured by high technological and quality content.
These measures make it possible for the company both to achieve positive economic results to look to the future with renewed optimism.
Results at Group level are also positive. Thanks to the large number of orders gained in previous years, which also guarantees that all the facilities have a continuous workload, production value, at 2,268.8 million euros, has increased by 4.3% over the previous year (2,176.5).
The operating result is 114.4 million euros (135.7 in 2004); net profit amounts to 51.1 million euros compared to 101.1 in 2004 (profit before tax amounts to 104.7 million euros compared to 152.0 in 2004). Financial availability and positive net financial credits, amounting to 126.7 million euros (278.3 million euros the previous year), confirm that positive cash flow has been generated; the difference is due to the fact that, as planned, two cruise ships were delivered in 2005 compared to four in 2004 and. as a consequence, incoming cash flow was lower (by contract the largest payment is made on delivery).
During the course of the year, six vessels were delivered (two cruise ships, three ferries and one patrol vessel) and orders were gained for a value of approximately 1,200 million euros, which, together with the orders finalised in the first months of the current year – including an order for four passenger ships for the Carnival group (1,700 million euros) – takes the total value of ships on order to 9,300 million euros.
Once more, in 2005, there was confirmation of the effectiveness of the company’s strategy aimed at strengthening the position of Fincantieri in its core business. Indeed the company has consolidated its world leadership in the construction of cruise ships and large ferries – with the market shares of each sector now at 50% and 36% respectively and, for the Italian Navy, has continued its challenging building programme which comprises vessels such as aircraft carriers, destroyers and submarines.
Furthermore, it is expected that the contract for the first two frigates in the FREMM programme will shortly be undersigned.
All these developments assure Fincantieri and Italy a prominent position within the global shipbuilding industry.
During the course of the year, drawing on the expertise the company has built up over the years, Fincantieri started up and sustained a series of initiatives to foster company growth, promoting the development of business in contiguous sectors: passenger ship repairs and conversions, mega-yacht construction and marine equipment and systems.