Vard acquired an order for the construction of a fishing vessel for the faroese Akraberg

The unit for Akraberg, the first operation in the islands Faroe whose design was designed entirely by Vard, 84 metres long, 16.7 metres wide, and will be home to 25 people in single cabins. The propulsion system will be hybrid, diesel-mechanical and diesel-electric, including batteries and smoke-free operations at anchor, ports and environmentally sensitive areas.

Fincantieri specified that the contract, valued at about EUR 50 million, is part of the diversification strategy Vard's implementation over the last few years in the face of the oil and gas crisis. The Italian naval mechanic group announced that in this context Vard is finalizing another important contract that will mark the entry of the company in a promising new market segment.

Meanwhile, the Fincantieri Group has filed in 2019, consolidated annual budget was approved yesterday by the company's board of directors, with revenues of 5.85 billion euros, an increase of 8.0% compared to 5.42 billions of euros in the 2018 financial year, the budget of which - specified the company -- has been adjusted to reflect the discontinued operations of the shipbuilding business small size for the fishery and aquaculture sectors and the Aukra shipyard. EBITDA and EBIT recorded decreases of -24.0% and -46.3% respectively 320 million and 153 million euros. 2019 has been closed with a net loss of -148 million euros compared to a net profit 69 million in the previous year.

In the Shipbuilding segment alone, revenues amounted to 5.09 billions of euros (up 8.8%) EBITDA was 375 million euro (-5.1%).

Last year Fincantieri acquired new orders for a total of 8.69 billion euros (up 0.9%) 28 13 cruise units for six brands (Oceania, Regent Seven Seas, Viking, MSC Cruises, Princess Cruises, Ponant) and five military units in the United States (LCS and MMSC program). The value of the order book at 31 December 2019 was 37.13 billion euros, growth of 13.4% on December 31, 2018.

Illustrating the evolution of the business in the first months of 2020, the Italian group recalled that due to the emergency co-19 Fincantieri's pandemic has suspended its production activities on Italian shipyards from 16 last March and specified that the health emergency, which -- has Fincantieri - is a cause of greater force contracts, allowing the group to modify the production programmes and ship delivery dates, is having significant effects on the regular and ordinary business activities in 2020. Fincantieri has specified that it assumes that, if the situation resolves reasonable timeframes, the group's capital and economic structure able to cope with the effects of the emergency.