Fincantieri has reported net income of 55 million euro on revenues of 4.4 billion euro for 2014, compared to net income of 65 million euro on revenues of 3.8 billion euro for 2013.

In a prepared statement, the company noted a significant recovery in the cruise market, both in terms of order intake and production volumes. Its offshore business, however, saw a rapid slowdown in the second half of the year, triggered by the crude oil price decline and related negative spending expectations.

For 2014, Fincantieri attributed 60.4 percent of its revenues to shipbuilding, 35.3 percent to offshore, and 4.3 percent to equipment, systems and services.

The shipbuilding segment is engaged in the design and construction of cruise ships, ferries, naval vessels and mega-yachts, as well as ship repair and conversion projects.

Revenues from shipbuilding amounted to 2.7 billion euro in 2014, of which 1.4 billion euro came from cruise ships. Compared to 2013, cruise revenues increased by 364 million euro, with nine ships under construction at the Fincantieri Group’s yards.

Fincantieri posted shipbuilding EBITDA of 195 million euro for 2014, up from 155 million euro for 2013. The improvement was largely attributed to increased volume and the favorable impact of U.S. dollar denominated contracts. The company pointed out that shipbuilding margins are still affected by competitive pricing from cruise ship orders acquired during the recent slowdown in orders and by partial production capacity utilization.

During 2014, Fincantieri was awarded five cruise ship orders from Carnival Corporation, two ships for Seabourn, one each for the Carnival, Princess and Holland America brands, and two ships plus an option for MSC, in addition to tugs, naval and Coast Guard vessels.

Deliveries during the year included the Regal Princess, the Costa Diadema and the Ocean Victory, a 140-meter mega-yacht. So far this year, Fincantieri has delivered the Britannia to P&O Cruises.

At the end of 2014, the shipbuilding backlog was estimated at 7.5 billion euro, compared to 5.3 billion euro at the end of 2013.

Among other developments last year, Fincantieri signed two memorandums of understanding with Carnival Corporation and the China State Shipbuilding Corporation, to explore the possibility of a joint venture in cruise shipbuilding for the Chinese market in which Fincantieri would provide projects, assistance and a series of key components from its facilities in Italy.