Good afternoon. This is the Chorus Call conference operator. Welcome, thank you for joining the Fincantieri First Half 2026 results conference call. 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 the telephone. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Folgiero, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director. Please go ahead, sir.
Hello, good afternoon. Welcome to Fincantieri's first half 2026 results conference call. We are pleased to report another outstanding set of results marked by strong margin expansion, record net profit, and continued deleveraging driven by solid cash generation. These achievements further demonstrate the successful execution of our strategy and the group's ability to convert strong commercial momentum into sustainable and profitable growth. We delivered a further step change in profitability, with EBITDA growing 12.5% and margin reaching 7.6%. Margin expansion was mainly driven by favorable pricing dynamics and efficiency measures in cruise, higher margin on defense programs currently under construction, as well as the increasing contribution of Underwater. Net profit consequently rose to a record EUR 102 million, almost tripling from first half of 2025 and reaching a level close to the all-time high of EUR 117 million achieved in full year 2025. Commercial performance remains particularly strong.
Vard secured the largest contract in its history with the Royal Saudi Naval Forces. Vard acquired a record order with Inkfish for a next-generation deep-sea research vessel, while new major cruise contracts extended visibility on deliveries through 2039. In defense, just a few days ago, the Portuguese and Italian governments announced an agreement for the acquisition of three FREMM EVO frigates. Our growth strategy continues to be supported by strong financial discipline, with leverage ratio decreasing to 1.0x , significantly improving compared to the full year 2025, thanks to cash generation over the period. Looking ahead, the progress achieved in the first half fully supports the confirmation of our 2026 guidance across all targets. Finally, we are very proud about the strategic acquisition of Next Geosolutions, WSense, Graal Tech, and Defcomm, announced earlier this month.
Together, these transactions mark a new phase in the group's evolution and accelerate the creation of an international, fully integrated underwater champion, as I will explain in a few minutes. Let's now turn to page four. Our commercial performance remains strong. Order intake reached EUR 6.1 billion in the first half of the year, with a book-to-bill ratio at 1.3 x. Total backlog increased 17% year-to-date, while the backlog reached EUR 43 billion. Total backlog and backlog guarantee approximately eight and 4.7 years of work when compared with 2025 revenue. Please note that order intake does not yet include the number of major contracts signed during the first six months, particularly in cruise and underwater, which are currently reflected in the soft backlog as they remain subject to financing and other customary conditions.
Including this agreement, we already exceeded the approximately EUR 11 billion order intake presented at our Capital Markets Day in February. Additional opportunities continue to progress across all our businesses. Let's now move to page five. In the first six months of 2026, we delivered 11 units from eight different shipyards across the group, demonstrating the strength of our industrial execution capabilities. At the same time, our order book continues to provide exceptional long-term visibility. With 92 units currently in portfolio and deliveries scheduled up to 2036. Taking into account the cruise orders signed with NCLH and Princess Cruises in recent months, which are not yet effective. Delivery visibility extends through 2039. Let's now move to page six, and let me briefly walk you through some of the most significant commercial achievements announced during the first half of the year and in recent weeks.
In cruise, we secured orders for nine vessels for Norwegian Cruise Line, Viking Cruises, Princess Cruises, and Four Seasons Yachts, strengthening our leadership in the sector and further extending our long-term visibility. In defense, we continue to reinforce our positioning across strategic programs and geographies. Key developments include the initial contract under the U.S. Navy's LSM program covering the first four vessels and paving the way for the future award of the construction contract, as well as the full combat upgrade of the Italian Navy's PPA units and industrial agreements with Albania, Indonesia, and Croatia, further expanding our international footprint. More recently, the Portuguese and Italian governments announced the agreement for the acquisition of three FREMM EVO frigates for the Portuguese Navy. In offshore and specialized vessels, we continue to demonstrate the benefits of our diversification strategy beyond the energy offshore market.
Alongside the largest single vessel order in Vard history, secured with Inkfish, we signed additional contracts in the fisheries, maritime infrastructure, and specialized vessel segments, including an Advanced Stern Trawler for Rosund Drift and two multi-mission Buoy & Lighthouse Maintenance Vessels for Trinity House. Finally, underwater WASS secured the largest contract in its history with the Royal Saudi Naval Forces. Only a few days ago, we signed a contract amendment with OCCAR for approximately EUR 317 million, covering logistic support initiative and WASS countermeasure systems for the U212 NFS submarine program. Furthermore, we expect more underwater opportunities coming from the new acquisition announced. Moving to page seven. The positive tailwinds and solid performance delivered give us full confidence in our 2026 guidance trajectory. We confirm the targets for the end of the year. Revenue in the range of EUR 9.3 billion-EUR 9.4 billion.
EBITDA in the range of EUR 700 million-EUR 710 million, with an EBITDA margin confirmed at approximately 7.5%. Net profit in the range of EUR 140 million-EUR 180 million. Finally, net debt adjusted to EBITDA ratio at approximately 2x , which equals to 1.3 x, including the capital increase completed in February 2026. Let's turn to page eight for more color on the recent M&A announcement in the underwater. On July 2026, we announced the acquisition of Next Geosolutions, WSense, Defcomm, and Graal Tech, a decisive step in the creation of a fully integrated international underwater champion. Thanks to this acquisition, the group establishes the first vertical integrated underwater operator, capable of delivering end-to-end solution across the entire value chain, spanning hardware, software, telecommunications, underwater platforms, and services.
The combination also unlocks significant commercial synergies, fosters product innovation, and generates economies of scale and of scope, materially accelerating the underwater strategy outlined in 2026/2030 business plan. Moving to page 10. Let me remind you that these acquisitions are largely financed through the ABB capital increase successfully completed in February 2026. The capital increase was approved by shareholders in 2024 and specifically conceived to support the group's inorganic growth strategy while preserving financial discipline. We successfully executed the transaction during a favorable market window before the escalating geopolitical tensions affected market conditions. Demand proved exceptionally strong, with the offering multiple times oversubscribed. Today, shareholders can clearly see the rationale behind that capital increase, as the proceeds are being fully deployed to create industrial value through the expansion of our Underwater segment.
Importantly, with the ABB proceeds only being supplemented by other available resources, the acquisitions have no impact on our 2026 leverage guidance, while strengthening the deleveraging trajectory set out in 2028 and 2030 business plan targets. Let's turn to page 11. The first wave of acquisitions with Remazel and WASS laid a solid foundation for the development of the Underwater segment, expanding Fincantieri's presence across defense, dual use, and commercial applications, while delivering significant growth in revenue, profitability, and cash generation. The second wave expands significantly the group's presence and capabilities across specialized services in marine survey, geoscience, and marine construction support, proprietary unmanned underwater and surface drone technologies, and wireless communication systems for the Internet of Underwater Things.
By bringing together these eight market-leading companies, we are creating Europe's first fully integrated underwater ecosystem, a platform that can operate, connect, protect, and govern the Underwater domain by combining services, autonomous vehicles, sensors, communications, defense systems, and strategic platforms into a single industrial capability. Moving to page 12, you can see the comprehensive portfolio of underwater solutions now brought together within our Underwater segment. What makes this platform unique is not only the breadth of technologies offered, but also their ability to operate within a single integrated ecosystem, offering a one-stop shop proposition. By combining services, autonomous systems, sensors, communication technologies, and underwater and surface platforms, we can increasingly act as a front-end service provider, orchestrating integrated end-to-end solutions tailored to our customers' operational needs. This enables us to evolve into a prime contractor in the Underwater domain. Moving to page 13.
From a financial standpoint, the Underwater segment has already delivered impressive results, strongly supported by the first wave of acquisitions with WASS and Remazel providing outstanding contributions in term of revenues and EBITDA. Building on the positive boost of the first wave, the second wave of acquisitions further enhances the segment's scale, profitability, and contribution to the group's consolidated results, and enables us to anticipate by four years the original targets for the Underwater segment for 2030. On a pro forma basis, revenue is expected to approximately EUR 1.1 billion in 2026, increasing to EUR 1.8 billion in 2030. EBITDA is expected at approximately EUR 220 million in 2026, growing to EUR 420 million in 2030. The EBITDA margin is expected to further increase from the current high double-digit marginality of the Underwater segment, reaching 19.2% in 2026 and increasing up to 23% in 2030.
The Underwater segment is also highly profitable at group level, delivering on a pro forma basis an additional EUR 60 million of net profit in 2026 and EUR 130 million in 2030. With this, I will hand the call over to Giuseppe for more color on financials. Please, Giuseppe.
Thank you, Pier roberto. We move on to page 15. Fincantieri stands at EUR 6.1 billion in the first half of this year. These EUR 6.1 billion mainly come from orders signed previously, but that became effective during the first six months of the year. We must know that on top of that, during the first month of this year, we signed orders in excess of roughly EUR 12 billion. Those orders, of course, are not effective, but they will become effective in the next six to 12 months. This is a testament of the very vibrant commercial activity in our markets. If we move to page 16, this commercial activity, backlog is EUR 43 billion notwithstanding, of course, the activity and the revenues we booked in the first six months, and a soft backlog of almost EUR 31 billion.
We delivered 11 units this year from eight different shipyards. We move to page 17, where we discuss revenues. Revenues reached EUR 4.58 billion in the first half, broadly in line with the first half of 2025, and marked an acceleration in the second quarter of this year. Of course, this is due to the progress of production activities related to the existing backlog, and this acceleration offsets the unfavorable comparison with the first half of last year, where we had the one-off revenue recorded for the two vessels for the Indonesian Navy. Revenue growth in the cruise business by almost 15%, driven by backlog execution and some progress on ships that were acquired at better prices compared to the past. Offshore revenues grew by 22.4% compared to the same period of last year.
Underwater posted a growth of almost 30%. Also Equipment, Systems and Infrastructure recorded revenues up by 16.2% at EUR 720 million, mainly driven by mechatronics and the infrastructure business. On page 18, significant increase in EBITDA. We reached 7.6% EBITDA margin. Last year, we reported 6.8%, and this is a very strong increase with shipbuilding that improved materially to 7.5%, supported both by favorable pricing dynamics and efficiency initiatives that we keep undertaking throughout the course of the year and as part of our strategic business plan. Of course, please note that this margin growth comes notwithstanding the decrease in revenues in Defense. It's quite remarkable, let me say Offshore EBITDA rose to EUR 40 million, confirming the growth trajectory of the business with the marginality broadly in line with the trend of recent years.
We had a substantial growth of almost 30% in Underwater EBITDA to EUR 60 million and a margin of 17%. This confirms that this segment comes at a premium with respect to the other business segments. Equipment, Systems and Infrastructure segment delivered a strong contribution to the group's profitability with EBITDA rising by 9.5% and EBITDA margin reaching 6.5%. This is all across the three segments that form the Equipment, Systems and Infrastructure business. On page 19. Of course, significant growth in net profit, 3x net profit levels of the first half of last year. This is on track with the guidance that we gave for 2026. Net profit growth was supported by very strong operational performance that we saw on the previous pages, EUR 102 million, and almost reaching the level of the full year 2025. I remind that we closed at EUR 117 million in 2025.
Strong operational results coupled with the reduction of the cost of debt. This is structural and ongoing and will further improve in the quarters to come. This is also linked to the disposal of non-strategic stakes in joint ventures that we had in China. A lower impact, and this is structural again, a lower impact of asbestos-related litigation costs. Adjusted net result, excluding those extraordinary non-recurring items, was positive for EUR 113 million compared to EUR 48 million in the first half of last year. On page 20, net debt. Adjusted net debt strongly improved, compared to the end of 2025, reaching EUR 750 million. Of course, this value includes the effect of the capital increase that we did in February 2026. Excluding this effect, adjusted net debt would be EUR 101.2 billion roughly. This is as well supported by solid cash flow generation.
Leverage ratio improved to one time compared to 1.9x EBITDA as of last year, as of end of the year 2025. This reads 1.7x excluding the effect of the capital increase. Net working capital negative at EUR 723 million, slightly improving compared to end of last year. This is thanks to the decrease in work in progress and somehow higher trade payables. I leave the word back to Pier roberto for his concluding remarks.
Thank you, Giuseppe. Let me now summarize our takeaways on page 22. We delivered a strong performance in the first half of 2026, further reinforcing confidence in 2026 targets and beyond, which, as you may remember, we had raised in our Q1 2026 results. The structural improvement in profitability continues, with EBITDA margin reaching 7.6% and net profit rising to a record EUR 102 million, supported by margin expansion in shipbuilding and increasing contribution of Underwater. At the same time, our growth is highly sustainable, with solid cash generation driving continuing deleveraging. Commercial momentum remains strong, with an impressive total backlog, solid order intake and contract sign year to date already reaching the full year order intake target, while providing visibility through 2039. More is to come, as we expect new major defense orders to be signed in the coming weeks.
The acquisitions announced in July mark a decisive step in the evolution of our Underwater segment, accelerating the creation of an integrated international champion, bringing together eight market-leading assets, providing end-to-end solutions in defense, dual use, and commercial sectors. These transactions are largely financed through the capital increase completed in February 2026, thus preserving group's financial discipline. We are now open to take your questions.
Excuse me, this is the Chorus Call conference operator. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touch-tone telephone. To remove yourself from the question queue, please press star and two. We kindly ask to use handsets when asking questions. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. Press star and one. The first question is from Antonio Gianfrancesco of Intermonte. Please go ahead, sir.
Hi. Good afternoon, and congratulations for a very strong release. Two questions from my side. The first one is on the SAFE program, because I wanted to ask about this program, also given the recent comments from the Italian government on requesting almost, I think, EUR 15 billion under this framework. I was wondering whether this could actually accelerate the formalization of specific navy programs such as DDX or already in the second half of this year. Second question is on the guidance, because you are already at 7.6% EBITDA margin in the first half of this year, and the profit is already quite advanced versus the full year target. I was wondering what is the main prudence embedded in the second half of the year, and what you would need to see to consider another guidance revision in coming months. Thank you.
First question on the SAFE. On the second question, I will leave the floor to Giuseppe. SAFE, I think that the trajectory of Italian government expenditure on defense is independent from the SAFE adoption. I strongly believe that it is already expected for 2026 and in particular 2027. Again, SAFE has to do on the way you want to finance this. If you want to have access to a measure that is financially convenient in terms of cost of money and in terms of maturity or not. My position is that the trajectory is there and will be there. With specific respect to the orders we are targeting for 2026, which are the ones that we have been somehow pursuing, and we have more than once shared with the market.
It is important, it is very important. There is a lot of debate, at the end of the day, it has not changed very much what is happening for us in 2026 and for the years to come. The increase in expenditure is clear, expected, confirmed by the government in several occasions on a national, I would say, scene and in the international scene. Giuseppe, on the EBITDA, why we are so prudent?
Now, yes, the results in the first quarter, in the first half were very good. As I said before, you must appreciate the level and the way we reached those results. Again, with the revenue growth in cruise and still waiting for the order acquisition in the defense business. Defense still has to kick in and contribute to further increases in marginality. That is why those results are even more remarkable, in my opinion. As with the possible update of the guidance, stay tuned. At the moment, the guidance is what we said, and we confirmed, is for roughly EUR 700-EUR 710 million in EBITDA with a margin of 7.5%, period.
Well, let me also add that, in a business like ours, a semester or a quarter are like photograms of a movie. The biorhythm of our business, it's a biorhythm whereby such , I would say, small window, it is not changing the story. We'd rather like to see the progression going on with the biorhythm of our business. In this respect, we are very satisfied because we have been constantly growing every indicators since, I would say, end of 2022. This progression is the way you should look at our number. Don't look at the photogram. I understand we have because that's our language. Again, let's look at the movie rather than looking at the photogram.
Very clear. Thank you.
The next question is from Emanuele Gallazzi of Equita. Please go ahead, sir.
Good afternoon, everybody. I think, yeah, two questions from my side. The first one is still on the naval business. We have seen the agreements in Croatia, in Albania. Can you comment a little bit more on this opportunity and the potential timeline? In addition, if you can also provide an update on the commercial opportunity with the U.S. Navy. The second one now is on the cruise, because it seems to me that looking at your results, the momentum is building in the cruise sector with a very solid performance in the second quarter, so specifically in terms of profitability. Can you discuss a little bit more on the trend that you see on the cruise sector and generally speaking, on the mood of your client? Thank you.
Very good. Again, Croatia. Please consider that when you have to secure a target of orders, you participate to number of opportunities that are higher vis-a-vis your ultimate target. I don't want to go again in the issue of Norway, in the issue of Poland, as if every tender we participate, then the market is waiting for us to take 100% hit rate and therefore, if then we are not 100% hit rate, we have a problem in the commercial pipeline. Please let me be a little bit, I would say, boring in saying that in the business of securing large orders, if you want to secure X orders, you have to bid for epsilon orders. The difference between X and epsilon is not an issue, is not a defeat, is not bad news, is the way you manage businesses.
Having said that, Croatia, it's a huge opportunity. It's the Adriatic Sea. You know how much we are strong in the Adriatic Sea. It goes without saying. It is the, I would say, extended Trieste-Venezia Giulia space. We have common roots. We have a lot of similarities. We have already a lot of synergies with that part of the sea, with the other side of the same sea. There is a lot to do in Croatia. We are addressing that opportunity with a lot of emphasis. Again, don't think me that we are going to have EUR 30 billion order intake because I don't have EUR 30 billion of orders between Muggiano, Riva, and Castellammare. Croatia, it's a good opportunity. They are building a kind of light corvettes, and it is something that is going to be mature throughout 2027. Albania is a different story.
Albania. It's an expansion of our construction footprint. We wanted to create in Albania a kind of additional shipyard with the Government of Albania building the shipyard and with Fincantieri and local knowledgeable parties managing the shipyard in order to build their smaller vessels, serving not only the very, I would say, light navy ships, but also ships for other kind of constituencies such as Coast Guard or such as police when working in sea and things like that. That is the strategy for that shipyard, which is a market that is growing a lot, which is a market that is made of high number of ships, different from the huge ships we are accustomed to build in our historical shipyards. In the Albania expansion, there is a lot of strategy.
On top of the strategy, there is also the, I would say, simultaneous opportunity to pursue an order from the Albanian Navy, which will be, by the way, channeled to the joint venture, to the Albanian joint venture. It's the ideal way to break the ice and to have this new, I would say, revamped shipyard starting production and delivering the first ships with the idea of then replicating the same kind of small ships for other navies in other nations. Albania is a different story. Your third point on USA. USA is in the process of accelerating its Golden Fleet program. As we have specified several times, we are intrinsic, we are integral part of the U.S. revitalization of shipbuilding.
The tangible evidence is the award of the LSM program, which is, again, a numerous one in terms of units, and Fincantieri is selected and already at work. It is not all about LSM. The shipyard will be included in the launch of other programs, in this orchestration that the U.S. administration is envisaging in order to take advantage of the few experienced shipyards in U.S. Your fourth point on trends with respect to cruise. Cruise is apparently unstoppable in terms of growth. This is driven by the value for money proposition, i.e., the comparison between the cost of an equivalent holiday onshore vis-a-vis offshore. If you look at what happened to the cost of tickets, cost of hotels, cost of restaurants, cost of accommodation at large onshore vis-a-vis offshore, you understand why cruise is so attractive.
If you consider that the addressable market for cruise liners, for cruise operators, is the tourism at large. Their idea is to increase the penetration of cruise over the overall, I would say, basket of holiday spenders. Holiday money spenders, I would say. There is a lot to do. Conceptually, they can grow a lot, because they can move from the market made of 40, 45 kind of passengers per year, cruisers per year, all the way to the billions of tourists all over the world. Conceptually, the penetration can be higher and higher in this addressable market. The second trend in the cruise industry is not only this value for money arbitrage, but also the segmentation. In order to better address the market, typically you cut it into slices and you associate with each segment a specific offering.
This is the second macro trend. In order to convince the incremental tourist to become a cruiser, typically what you do, you segment. In this respect, Fincantieri is a fantastic partner because we can be one-stop shop for the several brands of each big player. If you have your brand for luxury, your brand for upper premium, contemporaries, and basic, we can cover end-to-end all your needs because we have a system of shipyards rather than a shipyard. Every shipyard participating to the system can fit the best with the specific size of the ship. For example, we build in Ancona, super luxurious ship. We can build in Monfalcone, super large ship. We can build in Marghera, medium to big ships or medium ships in Sestri. Basically, we can accommodate all the brands.
This is what is happening in the cruise. I think there is a third phenomenon, which is the substitution effect. The cruise business is being very successful in the last 30 years, but you need to substitute your ships as soon as kind of obsolescence is taking place, but also technological substitution and new regulations. The demand for new cruise ships is not only driven by the increase in the market share, but also is driven by the substitution, because you need to substitute older ships with newer ships, considering the regulation, but also considering the kind of look and feel. If you are accustomed to be in a ship that is modern, that is attractive, that is full of entertainment, then you don't want to be on an older one with less of it, and again, with a kind of old generation.
What we are also experiencing is the substitution effect.
Very well then. Thank you.
The next question is from Marco Vitale of Mediobanca. Please go ahead, sir.
Good afternoon. Thank you for taking the questions. First one is on naval business with revenues still on a declining trajectory in the second quarter. The question is, excluding the impact from the Constellation class cancellation, how is the underlying business progressing and when should we expect the segment return to growth? Second question is more high level on the underwater. How do you view your positioning in the segment after your deal, and also take into account the evolving competition after the several transactions that have been announced within the segment. Would you still targeting faster than the native trend that you offered or you're happy with that at the moment? Thank you.
On the defense, unfortunately or fortunately, the answer is very obvious. You will see revenues after orders. It's difficult to see revenues before orders. I would say it's unlawful. In order to have revenues, you have before to have orders. We are working in order to have the, I would say, materialization of orders in the very short term. I would say, you will see the rollout of revenues accordingly. As you know, we are expecting EUR 5 billion. There are, I would say, very visible signals that these EUR 5 billion are there, starting from Portugal and not only from Portugal. The DDX is there, the LSS is there, the Clara Ship is there. There are a number of opportunities that were, I would say, here and there, disclosed. Again, once those orders will be there, revenues will be there.
Next year, for sure, you will see the acceleration in the revenues as a consequent effect to the acceleration in orders. On your second question, the underwater positioning and evolving competition. Our positioning in the underwater, it is something that we try to explain very clearly during the dedicated presentation on July 6. Basically, the positioning is to create a platform, that is a platform that can cover all the needs with proprietary technologies, and at the same time, being also able to provide services. To be a kind of prime contractor in the underwater, able to provide underwater-as-a-service. You don't need to buy drones, you don't need to buy command and control, you don't need to buy telecommunications, you don't need to train your personnel, you don't need to hire people. I can do it for you because I am a service integrator.
I'm a player that can do it for you and addressing your needs. This is unique. There is no one on the market that can offer underwater-as-a-service, ranging from defense to the dual use and to commercial services. This is the, I would say, highest distinctiveness we can provide. In terms of evolving competition, the competition is very clear in terms of proprietary technologies. Take, for example, the underwater drones or the surface drones, or the command and control of drones at sea in general. Obviously there is competition, but this competition is somehow regulated by the national content. Everyone wants drones, but everyone wants to have drones that are under my full control without black boxes, that can be switched off from far. This is the key understanding for certain critical technologies.
Not for everyone, obviously, not for every technology, but for the key technologies, the competition is not driven by the price, but is driven by the, I would say, freedom of use and full control of the solutions. This is not a normal business. This is a business that is managing a level of interest that is calling for technological sovereignty. Obviously, you have to couple technological sovereignty with competitiveness, because nobody wants to throw money out of the window. It's not a matter of, "I will buy something from far. I would like to buy something from near." This is what we are experiencing. Italy is a very expert and knowledgeable place, having expert and knowledgeable industrial base that can validate technology and then can sell it to other countries that are compatible with our geopolitical platform. This is exactly what we have been doing.
On your additional question for additional M&A, if I don't go wrong, I believe that we made very clear that the M&A waves we have executed are driven by a make or buy strategy, whereby we had very clear which were the technologies that we wanted to address, that we wanted to cover, and we were very explicit on which are the source of distinctiveness in this portfolio of technologies. We believe that our make or buy strategy and the relevant M&A campaigns are done, are executed. Obviously, we remain opportunistically ready to pursue any other selective opportunities in case we get along, in case we get across. Again, the strategy, it was very clear, it was very well-planned in advance, and it is now executed with this second campaign of M&A initiatives.
Clear. Thank you.
The next question is from Tommaso Castello of Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Yes, good afternoon. Thanks for taking the time to answer to my questions. I have three questions. The first is a follow-up on shipbuilding, and it is around the profitability, whether you expect marginality to keep at the same level throughout the remainder of the year, despite a weaker defense mix. The second is on the drivers of margin pressure on the offshore and the equipment system and solution divisions. The third one is a reminder on the CapEx guidance for the year. Thank you.
The first point is on shipbuilding profitability. Shipbuilding profitability has been planned with the revenue mix you are seeing today. Obviously, because again, revenues in our business is very, I would say, easy to plan because they depend on the order intake. We are very clear the mix in the revenues of 2026 because they were dependent on the mix of orders of 2025. The answer is yes. We can obviously confirm guidance for the remaining part of 2026. We don't have any issue related to the revenue mix. On your second question is about margin pressure on offshore and equipment service. We don't have any special concern. The margins in our offshore business is driven by the level of saturation of shipyards and is driven by the contribution of the Vietnam production chain vis-a-vis the Romanian production chain. It is expected.
It is a business that we know very well, and I think that the numbers are stable and can only improve. We don't see any issue or pressure downward. On your third point, CapEx outlook for 2026. We didn't give a guidance on CapEx. They are implicitly considered in the net financial position and in the net financial position to EBITDA projections. We don't have anything special to mention in that respect. The CapEx for 2026 are driven by the maintenance CapEx we have been expecting and projecting, plus certain specific improvement in, for example, Monfalcone Shipyard, where we are in the process of finalizing the installation of the largest ever crane, which will be so important in 2027 and beyond for the more efficient and effective construction of the largest cruise ships ever. I don't see nothing more to signal.
Thank you very much, good luck.
Thank you.
The next question is from Gabriele Gambarova, Intesa Sanpaolo. Please go ahead, sir.
Yes, thank you. Good afternoon, Pierroberto and Giuseppe. Thank you for taking my questions, just a couple. One is on the Medium Landing Ship program in the U.S. You mentioned it, Pierberto, I was wondering if you could give me some more color. I think the numbers are really big. There was this, let's say, recent announcement from the prime contractor, you will be awarded four ships. If you could, let's say, give me some more color on this. Even considering that somewhere I've seen, I've read that possibly the Government Accountability Office hypothesized that the remaining part of the Constellation program might be terminated. I was wondering if, for instance, your yard on Lake Michigan could focus on the single program, that is the LSM, for instance. The second question regards the P&L.
There were EUR 26 million of financial incomes from investments in the first half. I was wondering if it was possible to have some more information on this specific item. Thank you.
Thank you for your question. On the LSM, I think it's the continuation of the story we've been describing. The program, it's a very large one. It is expected, if I don't go wrong, to be more than 30, something like 35, 36. Two shipyards have been identified, ourselves and another one. It's a kind of fast track program because they want to build many of those ships and four are in the process of being formalized, four ships. In the meantime, in order to cut corners, we received a kind of pre-order in order to start designing and placing orders for the long lead items. The procurement of those components whose construction lead time are long, and therefore, you need to start producing as early as possible in order to avoid then extra time.
The willingness to go is, I would say, witnessed by the award of this pre-order. On your second point, Constellation class, I think there is still a lot of reasoning in U.S. about which is the right strategy for frigates. There are a lot of school of thoughts. Someone is even starting to think that Constellation class would have been a good option, if you want what I'm hearing here and there. There is another school of thought regarding with respect to which is better to start from an existing platform, even if this platform has to be redesigned in order to be a combatant ship. Meaning you need to add anti-warfare measures. You have to transform Coast Guard cutter into a heavy combatant ship. There are multiple school of thoughts. We are obviously available to contribute to this debate upon request.
Again, Golden Fleet is not all about LSM and Constellation class. There is a large number of different programs that are going to be launched. Again, the U.S. administration made no secret that they want to enlarge, accelerate, and involve the few reliable shipyards in U.S. I think, as we have been saying since two, three years, the good news is that U.S. is revitalizing shipbuilding, the good news is that Fincantieri is being in U.S. since 20 years with three shipyards plus one, with a long-lasting expertise with the supply chain and the U.S. engineering setups. On your third point, which is the financial investments, I will leave the floor to Giuseppe.
Yes, totally. As I said before, yes, those EUR 26 million were a capital gain from the disposal of our minority stake in a joint venture we had in China. Will be disclosed also in the MD&A of the six months results.
Okay. Thank you very much. Very clear.
The next question is from Sriram Krishnan from Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Can you hear me well?
Yes, please. Go ahead.
All right. Great. Thank you. I have just two questions. The first one is with regards to order. You have disclosed quite a lot, and they have firmed up around EUR 6 billion. What I'm interested is on some of the major orders, which are still yet to come in, which includes the Portugal four ships from the LSM and DDX. Can you give us an approximate what's the order size which you're talking about for these three, four programs? That's part one of that question. As a follow-up, can you also give us an update on where we stand with regards to that EUR 5 billion of order commitment? How much of that EUR 5 billion has been disclosed or firmed up? That's the first question. The second question is with regard to the net debt leverage.
You have provided that the leverage would be 2x by end of 2026, and I believe that's based on the first tranche of cash outflow with regards to the M&A of EUR 600 million. Just wondering, what would the leverage number be if you include the second tranche where you need to pay out another EUR 300 million-EUR 400 million, I suppose, for the public tender offer for next year. What would be that after that is done? Those are the two questions. Thank you so much.
Okay. On the EUR 5 billion order intake, in the defense that we have been expecting for 2026, we are not announcing anything yet. It is expected to come. What is already visible, it's not being announced, but very visible, is the announcement made by our government with respect to three frigates to Portugal. Not included in the backlog, not disclosed yet. On top and in term of what is inside the EUR 5 billion, the first information is at your disposal, i.e. three frigates from Portugal. There are a number of expected orders from the Italian Navy, which obviously we are not in the position and in the condition to disclose. The DDX, the destroyer, is there, and it's written in the public documents of the Ministry of Defence.
The same is with respect to other kind of ships under negotiation with the Navy. Again, five is a number that can include, or better, I can make five only including the ships I'm just hinting here with you. Giuseppe?
On net debt, yes, we reiterated the guidance of net debt levels of 2x EBITDA at the end of the year, we reiterated the guidance when we did the press conference on M&A. This is directionally, of course, linked to also the timing of the closing of the deals, as we are waiting for complete the antitrust clearance and the Golden Power clearance. Directionally, yes, we reiterated that message 2x EBITDA over EBITDA by the end of the year. That's it.
Thank you.
The next question is from Lorenzo Di Patrizi of Bank of America. Please go ahead, sir.
Hello, good afternoon. Thank you for taking my questions. The first one would be on offshore. You say in the release that the market will now normalize after a period of strong growth. Can you elaborate more on the reasons behind this? I thought, for example, the expected oil and gas market pickup could have helped there. Second question on Next Geosolutions. I saw you had an announcement recently that the owners will transfer some of their stakes to you. What does this mean for the phasing of your stake of Next Geosolutions that we should expect for the end of this year and next year? When will you reach 100%? Separately, what growth for this business should we expect for the next few years?
First question on kind of outlook of the offshore business. The offshore business is mainly driven by, I would say, several different underlying sectors because you have the wind, you have the oil and gas, you have the cable layers, and you have others kind of ship. Others meaning trawlers, research vessels, and things like that. There was a peak two, three years ago driven by wind farms. Wind farms had a kind of slowdown, and this slowdown is being more than compensated by what is happening in the oil and gas. I believe that this is the first micro-trend that we have to acknowledge, i.e., the kind of ships are quite similar, in particular for the SOVs and CSOVs. Support and service and construction support. Are more or less similar if you compare oil and gas with wind.
Again, this is quite visible. I'm sure you are aware that there is a large wave of expected investments in the offshore oil and gas for several reasons, including the fact that we need more energy and there are some gaps due to recent years slowing down investment in oil and gas offshore. With respect to cable layers, the business of connectors is so evident, it is growing. There are other listed companies that can give you more visibility on that respect. What I can tell you is that it is not all about electric connectors. There is a lot to do in the fiber optic connectors, in the telecom connectors. We are experiencing a lot of focus on the telecom. Again, the demand for cable layers is obviously direct function of what is happening and how much this connectors business is speeding up.
Let me also add that there is a lot of demand also because the maintenance of underwater cables is proving to be another priority that was underestimated in the past. In a world that is so much dependent on those cables, the current capacity and capability to serve and to maintain is lower than needed. We are also having a lot of solicitation, a lot of requests also for ships that are, again, connected with underwater cables, but also with the kind of hybrid ability not only to lay cables, but also to repair cables. On the other possible specialized vessels, I think the recent backlog is very evident. We are having a huge contract for research vessels. Again, research vessels, it's another testament of what is happening in the underwater.
Those research vessels are able to map seabeds, interact with the seabeds in view of, for example, seabed mining. Going for surveys or other kind of missions that are propaedeutic to new businesses and new opportunities. The business of trawlers is proving to be interesting to Vard because they have an extensive experience and a very satisfied set of clients that are showing up periodically. That's why we believe that there is nothing bad to be expected from the offshore business, and we believe that conversely, it can be only upward given the order intake, given the saturation of ship years we are expecting, and again, given the contribution of the [ETRM] to the blended marginality of Vard. Your additional question is on Next Geosolutions.
On all the acquisitions, we adopted an approach according to which we want to guarantee continuity to the managerial, I would say, endeavor, by means of involving shareholders' managers because they are shareholders' managers in the new phase. Basically, we wanted managers owning shares reinvesting in the new phase, in the new company. That's what they did. Which means two things, which means that the company will take benefit of this continuation of activity of this management team that did fantastically, because Next Geosolutions was a company built from scratch something like 10 years ago, capitalizing on the vast experience of the key managers, and then they listed a couple of years ago. I think they did a fantastic job. That's why we are so happy to have them on board, not only as managers, but also as shareholders.
With respect to your question on when it will be 100% owned by us, we gave extensive details in the press release issued something like a couple of days ago. You will find there all the details. It's a traditional scheme whereby there are targets and there are put and call options. No rocket science. What is really important for you is to appreciate that there is a big alignment of interest between the new shareholders, the manager shareholders, and the management targets, which is what you need to do when you are managing such a valuable asset, such as Next Geosolutions, made of references, but made of also human capital that is remarkable. By the way, what I'm saying applies identically on the other acquisitions. It is the same for WSense, which is a very beautiful scale-up company.
It is the same for Graal Tech, which is made of a very smart and experienced team of managers. It is the same with respect to Defcomm, which is truly ahead of the market in term of naval surface drones.
Okay. Thank you.
Gentlemen, there are no more questions registered at this time.
Thank you very much. Thank you very much for your time and your interest. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over. You may disconnect your telephone.