Fincantieri S.p.A.

Good afternoon. This is the Chorus Call Conference Operator. Welcome and thank you for joining the FinCAN TRE First Half 2024 Results Presentation. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, they may signal an operator by pressing star and zero on their telephone. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO and Managing Director of Fincantieri. Please go ahead, sir.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you for joining us and welcome to Fincantieri First Half 2024 Results Conference Call. Let me begin by expressing our strong satisfaction for the successful completion of the €400 million rights issue we launched on June 24. We received an extraordinary reaction from the market with 99.2% of new shares offered, subscribed during the rights offer period, and the residual rights sold in the very first minutes of the auction session. A total of over 152 million new shares were subscribed paired with an equivalent number of warrants, giving the right to subscribe new shares in the ratio of five shares for every 34 warrants for an additional aggregate maximum counter value of about 100 million euro. I would like to thank all of the investors that believed in our equity story and strategy and supported us in this important process. As already communicated, The share capital increase of €500 million is intended to finance the acquisition of the Underwater Armament System Business Line, or UAS, from Leonardo. The total maximum value of the acquisition amounts to €415 million, consisting of €300 million as fixed enterprise value in addition to max €115 million as a variable component. based on growth assumption linked to UAS performance in 2024. The closing of the acquisition is expected by the beginning of 2025, subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions. Moving now to our first half 2024 performance on page five, we are very satisfied with the performance achieved and our results are fully in line with our growth expectation for 2024. Revenue stand at Euro 300, 681 million, substantially stable year-on-year with the offshore and equipment system and infrastructure divisions confirming the growth of the first quarter. And the production level in shipbuilding expected to accelerate in the second half of the year with the content for two PPA units for the Indonesian Ministry of Defense expected to be effective in the second semester. EBITDA is up 15.6% year-on-year, with the margin at 5.8%, up 80 basis points over first semester 2023, reflecting our focus on profitability in all our businesses, including cruise. Finally, Net financial position at 2 billion 42 euro improves versus first age 2023 and is in continuity with fiscal year 2023. On the commercial side, we achieved impressive results with order intake at 7.6 billion euro, 3.6 times the orders acquired during first age 2023. and higher than all the orders acquired in 2023, with a book to bill equal to 2.1 times fiscal year 2023 revenues. As a result, the backlog reached 27.4 billion euro, up 18.7% compared to December 21st, 2023. With the total backlog, sum of backlog and soft backlog, reaching an all-time record level of 41.1 billion euro, 5.4 times 2023 revenues, supported by a strong commercial acceleration in all business segments. The solid performance, supportive macro trends, and clear visibility we have on our business outlook allow us to confirm our 2024 targets for revenues, increasing to euro 8 billion and for EBITDA margin at around 6%. Our deleveraging process is well ahead of our business plan assumptions and is accelerating further, enabling us to improve our 2024 guidance of leverage net financial position to EBITDA to between 4.5 and 5.5 times, one turn better than the previous guidance of 5.5 to 6.5 times. Considering the temporary effect of the rights issue, the ratio would have been between 3.7 and 4.7 times. Our commercial performance in first six months of 2024 remains exceptionally strong, and our portfolio has benefited from a number of new orders, confirming Fincantieri's positioning at the forefront of novel technological progress as well as its global reach across all business segments. Let me share with you the most relevant achievements for each business segment. On the left, the six new next generation cruise ships for Norwegian Cruise Line Holding to be delivered between 2026 and 2031 represent the pinnacle of technological advancement and exemplify the commitment to environmental sustainability. On top of it, A few days ago, we closed the deal with Carnival for Three Ships, which will be the biggest ever built by Fincantieri in an Italian shipyard. In the middle, the next generation near future submarine program, where we are both design authority and prime contractor. The order for the fourth submarine of the program contributes to the strong commercial acceleration recorded in the defense and underwater domain. It also provides for the application of Fincantieri's new lithium battery system. Lastly, as for the offshore segment, we can highlight our success in penetrating new markets, such as the Asian one, and our ability to meet the growing international demand in this sector, which is experiencing a new pickup in oil and gas. Just a few comments on our order book on page nine. As you can see, we have a full slate of deliveries scheduled for the medium to long term up to 2032, offering a full visibility on our top line for the years to come. Considering also the recent order for Carnival, this timeline will extend to 2033. As of the end of June, Cruise accounts for 27 vessels in portfolio, the fence for 35 units, and offshore for 34 further vessels for a total of 96 ships in backlog. Overall, the commercial performance is strong in all segments with further significant opportunities coming from the other underwater domain and not only. Now, I will hand the call over to Giuseppe who will discuss our financial results. Please, Giuseppe.