Fincantieri is scouting for deals to speed up its expansion in the fast-growing underwater business, the head of the Italian shipbuilder said on Wednesday.
The state-controlled company reported a more than fourfold jump in its annual profit to €117 million ($136 million), boosted by the underwater unit, where revenue rose 88 per cent.
"We are very active on MA...There are different possible transactions", Chief Executive Pierroberto Folgiero told analysts after the earnings release.
He added Fincantieri was not pursuing a transformational deal, but focusing on smaller transactions to expand in the submarine business, including in non-defence markets.
Folgiero pointed to propulsion systems, electronics and software for command-and-control, and telecommunications as areas where the company may seek acquisitions after completing a €500-million capital increase last month.
Fincantieri has sharpened its focus on defence and high-margin naval programmes over the past year amid rising geopolitical tensions, while also benefiting from a recovery in cruise-ship demand, as part of a broader push to improve profitability, cut debt and reposition the group.
Order intake reached €20.3 billion last year, up 32 per cent from 2024.
Folgiero said Romania and Greece were interested in joining the European patrol corvette project, which Fincantieri is developing with Spain's state-held Navantia to create a new class of patrol vessels.
On cruise ships, he said sentiment among ship owners remained buoyant despite the Middle East crisis.
"We continue to see a lot of energy, a lot of interest in occupying future slots," he said.
Shares of the Trieste-based company closed around six per cent higher after gaining as much as 7.5 per cent following the results.
(Reporting by Elvira Pollina in Milan, Romolo Tosiani and Mirko Miorelli in Gdansk. Additional reporting by Giulia Segreti in Rome. Editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak, Alvise Armellini and Mark Potter)