Ferretti's order book falls to EUR 564.9m and guidance is cut

The numbers the board signed off

Ferretti's board approved the consolidated results to 30 June 2026 on 31 July. Net revenues from new yachts came in at EUR 585.6m, down 5.6 per cent from EUR 620.4m a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA fell to EUR 92.5m, with the margin at 15.8 per cent against 15.9 per cent. Net profit was EUR 37.9m, down 13.1 per cent from EUR 43.6m. Total net revenue, including brokerage and service, was EUR 604.2m, off 5.3 per cent.

The shape of the half matters more than the headline drop. Revenue fell 8.0 per cent in the first quarter and 2.9 per cent in the second, so the rate of decline more than halved as the period went on. The margin held within twenty basis points of last year, which is the part a buyer should read first: the group is discounting far less than the revenue line suggests. Ferretti also paid its ordinary dividend of EUR 0.11 a share. This is a slowdown in orders, not a company in trouble.

A book a quarter smaller

The backlog is where the half really shows. Ferretti's net order backlog stood at EUR 564.9m at 30 June 2026 against EUR 760.8m at the same point in 2025, a fall of 25.7 per cent. Order intake over the six months was EUR 341.4m, down from EUR 467.3m, a drop of 27 per cent. Those two numbers move together for a reason: a group that builds largely in series burns through backlog on a fixed rhythm, so intake that falls faster than deliveries pulls the book down quickly.

One caveat is worth carrying into any comparison. Ferretti reports a net backlog, the value still to be recognised, and that is not the measure other yards quote for a gross order book. Azimut Benetti's EUR 2.5bn figure, which has pushed some new builds toward 2029, counts a different thing on a different basis. Read against its own history, Ferretti's book has gone from comfortable to workable in twelve months.

Why the guidance came down

The group cut its 2026 outlook the same day. New-yacht revenue is now guided to EUR 1.200bn to EUR 1.240bn, against EUR 1.250bn to EUR 1.265bn before. Adjusted EBITDA moves to EUR 186m to EUR 197m from EUR 203m to EUR 210m, and the margin range to 15.5-15.9 per cent from 16.2-16.6 per cent. Capital expenditure was trimmed to EUR 60m to EUR 65m from EUR 70m to EUR 75m.

Ferretti described the revision as prudential, citing geopolitical uncertainty with particular reference to the Middle East, and a macroeconomic backdrop that keeps lengthening how long buyers take to decide and to negotiate. The regional split earlier in the year showed how uneven that is: in the first quarter, intake from the Americas fell 87 per cent and from the Middle East and Africa 33.9 per cent, while Europe rose 28.2 per cent. The capex cut is the line to watch, because that is the yard's own spending on the sheds and equipment that build future slots.

What a thinner book buys an owner

For a buyer, a shrinking backlog is leverage. When intake drops 27 per cent at a group that builds in series across Riva, Pershing, Custom Line, Itama and Mochi Craft, unsold slots appear in a schedule that was fully spoken for two years ago. That shows up first as availability, then as flexibility on specification, and only then as price. A model that meant a 2029 handover when ordered in 2024 is a much shorter wait today.

The same fact reads differently if you already own one. Softer pricing on new hulls presses down on what a two or three year old example of the same model fetches, and brokerage takes its cue from the new-build price list. The offset is that Ferretti is holding its margin and its dividend rather than buying volume with discounts, which limits how far that pressure travels. Delivery risk, the thing that actually hurts, is not the issue here: the question is what the boat is worth afterwards, not whether it arrives.

A first full test for new management

This is the first half-year the group has reported under a new team. Stassi Anastassov became chief executive at the shareholders' meeting on 15 May 2026, succeeding Alberto Galassi after twelve years, with Tan Ning as chairman. The handover followed a contested governance year, and the new management has inherited a sound balance sheet and a commercial problem that is not yet solved.

The autumn decides how this reads by December. Cannes in September and Monaco at the end of that month are where a large share of the year's contracts are signed, and the question is whether the second quarter's moderation carries into the order book. If intake stabilises through the shows, the cut guidance will look like housekeeping. If it does not, the capex trim will start to shape what the yards can offer in 2028 and beyond.