STX Europe, which part of the South Korean STX Business Group, has reported second quarter pre tax profit of NOK370 million, little changed from NOK407 million in the same period last year.
The company, which builds cruise liners and ferries at two fully owned yards in Finland and at one yard in France in which it has a 66% stake, said that market conditions in its Cruise & Ferry business area remained challenging through the review period and more of the same is expected from the future.
STX Europe said it is committed to remain a leading builder of cruise liners and ferries, but its Finnish yards would retain ice breaking tonnage as a key area in the future. Order intake in passenger ship business fell to NOK165 million from NOK5.15 billion a year earlier, while order backlog in the sector declined to NOK11.67billion on 30 June from NOK16.21 billion a year earlier.
The Cruise & Ferry business area generated revenues of NOK2.19 billion in the second quarter of this year, slightly more than the NOK2.10 billion a year earlier. However, EBITDA plunged to negative by NOK41 million from positive by NOK86 million a year earlier, resulting in an EBITDA margin negative by 1.9% against a figure positive by 4.1%.
STX Europe said that financing of newbuilding projects would remain a difficult task and the outlook remained challenging.