Wärtsilä sees 10% order intake increase for first half 2024

Wärtsilä, a global supplier of technologies for the marine and energy markets, has reported “stable” net sales for the first half of 2024, with order intake increasing by 10%.

The company saw positive Q2 results, including a 7% increase in net sales to EUR 1,556 million (1,454) and a 10% increase in order intake to EUR 1,854 million (1,687), contributing to its first half performance.

Wärtsilä Key Figures from April-June 2024. (Source: Wärtsilä)

“The market environment remained stable for Wärtsilä’s businesses during the second quarter of 2024,” said Håkan Agnevall, president and CEO, Wärtsilä. “The headwinds for the global economy continued, but economic activity has proven to be relatively resilient.”

The market for engine power plants was stable for the quarter, with positive activity especially in the U.S, said Agnevall. He cited the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI), and the resulting growth in data centers, as having a sizable impact on global electricity demand.

“In May, we signed a cooperation agreement with AVK, the largest and fastest-growing supplier of power solutions for data centers in Europe, to deliver on-site power generation for European data centers,” Agnevall said. “The combination of AVK’s track record in power system design for data centers and Wärtsilä’s leading expertise in designing and manufacturing high-efficiency medium-speed engines has interesting potential moving forward.”

In the Marine sector, Agnevall said “market sentiment continued to develop favorably for Wärtsilä, with momentum building in our key segments, and with decarbonization-related retrofits and longer trade routes supporting services.”

He went on to cite the announcement in May that Wärtsilä will supply the electrical systems needed to convert two Scandlines ferries to a plug-in hybrid solution, which Agneval said is the world’s largest conversion project of its kind. “Ship hybridization is one of the solutions for decarbonization, and with this project, we can help Scandlines towards their target of achieving emission-free operations on the route by 2030,” he added.

The solid Q2 performance helped to facilitate stable net sales for the first half of EUR 2,877 million (2,919) and an order intake increase of 10% to EUR 3,778 million (3,427).

Service net sales grew by 8%, supported by growth in the Marine and Energy business segments. Equipment net sales decreased by 12%, with lower equipment net sales in Energy mainly related to the periodization of deliveries, the company reported.

Service order intake increased by 7% during the period, driven by growth in Marine. Equipment order intake increased by 14%, supported by higher equipment order intake in the Marine, Engine Power Plants and Portfolio business, said the company. Equipment order intake in Energy Storage & Optimisation decreased, attributed to lower battery material prices.

Wärtsilä is expecting an improved demand environment going forward.

“We expect that the equipment deliveries in the second half of 2024 will grow faster than the service deliveries. This is driven by equipment deliveries in Energy, both for Engine Power Plants and Energy Storage & Optimisation, being tilted towards the second half of 2024,” said Agnevall. “In Marine, the lead times from equipment order intake to net sales are slightly longer, due to the remaining constraints in shipyard capacity.”

For the coming 12 months, Agnevall said the company expects the demand environment to improve versus the comparison period in both Marine and Energy.

“Innovation in sustainable technology remains at the heart of Wärtsilä as we continue our focus on helping our customers to continuously improve their environmental and economic performance,” he stated. “We are focused on executing our strategy and remain very well positioned for the transformation towards carbon-neutral shipping and a 100% renewable energy future.”