Italy’s Fincantieri Posts Double-Digit 1st Half Growth

Italy’s state-owned Fincantieri SpA, the Italian shipbuilder that is expecting to sell shares to the public next year, Monday said its profitability and sales rose in double-digit rates in the first half of the year. Fincantieri said it had consolidated net profit of EUR26.4 million in the first six months of 2006, up 14% from the EUR23.1 million posted in the same period a year earlier. Pre-tax profit rose 17% to EUR60 million from EUR51.2 million while revenue, defined as production value by the company, rose 11.4% to EUR1.17 billion from EUR1.05 billion. Fincantieri said it received EUR3.3 billion in new orders in the first half of the year, four times the amount brought in during the same period of 2005. Total orders now on hand are EUR9.3 billion, about three years’ workload for the company.