Cruises recovering and more military spending: Fincantieri shines in Piazza Affari (+6.3%)

Fincantieri shines in Piazza Affari, with the share closing with a leap of 6.3% to 0.65 euros, the highest since November 2021. Investors therefore seem to trust the business plan of the CEO Pierroberto Folgiero and his projects of growth, declined in a green and digital key. The optimistic declarations of the manager also pushed the listing, according to which the restart of tourism has brought the cruise sector to levels of occupation of ships prior to the pandemic, while the security needs linked to the new international conflicts will lead to an increase in military spending.

During a visit to Lef, the so-called “model factory” of San Vito al Tagliamento (Pordenone), Folgiero took stock of the situation and prospects of the shipbuilding sector. As mentioned, the CEO of Fincantieri underlined that the occupancy percentages of cruise ships have returned to pre-Covid levels. «All the ships and all the owners have put their entire fleet back into service. In the pandemic they have had enormous financial suffering, which must now somehow be healed through the cash generation of this tourist restart. The signals are undoubtedly positive: there won’t be the growth we have been used to in past years, but there is certainly an addressable market. And we are on all the opportunities, all the owners, all the products».

From civilian to military. «Spending on naval defense will certainly grow in this new industrial cycle – he explained – The ship has those particular deterrent elements of the Navy’s spending, it has the ability to defend cable ducts, energy infrastructures, communications cables. 80% of the depths of the Mediterranean are not known: I believe that Navy expenditure will grow because there is a great need for security and Fincantieri’s military products such as Fremm, anti-submarine warfare and corvettes are the most in demand and the most tested at sea».

Folgiero, however, also made a distinction: «We mustn’t forget that naval defense spending is very dual, it gives this effort a long-term leeway. An effort that taxpayers will have to support together with Europe. Fincantieri has what it takes to direct this growth and Italy has the geopolitical platform suitable for promoting this type of business”.

In any case, the CEO of Fincantieri is convinced that to defend manufacturing and the large shipbuilding industry, we must continue to add distinctiveness to what we do. «We will push to digitize the construction sites first of all, embracing the new engineering systems. We also want to be pioneers in robotization. My great conviction is that the more we digitize Fincantieri’s naval engineering capacity, the more future-proof we will be».