52 DECEMBER 2015 | International Boat Industry http://www.ibi-plus.com
Strategy & Finance
INSIDER | ALBERTO GALASSI
W
hen Alberto Galassi was
named Ferretti CEO in
May 2014, he seemed
like an unlikely white knight for the
beleaguered Italian yacht builder.
The former chief executive of Piaggio
Aerospace, apart from being a longtime
boat owner, had little experience in
the yachting industry. But a year and a
half into the job, Galassi has effectively
pulled off what many in the boating
industry thought would be mission
impossible: Resurrecting a yacht-
building giant that seemed to be beyond
rescuing, even after the acquisition of
its deep-pocketed parent, the Weichai
Group, in 2012.
Galassi, 51, is highly energetic,
smart, personable and unusually
frank. A former lawyer specializing in
international commerce and arbitration,
he speaks impeccable English and has
a global view of the business world.
He joined Piaggio’s board of directors
in 1998, overseeing marketing and
sales and joined the Italian aircraft
manufacturer’s Executive Board in 2008
and was named CEO a year later. He
relinquished that role in 2014 for the
Ferretti CEO position, but he remains
Piaggio’s chairman.FINANCIAL COMEBACK
During the 2014 Ft. Lauderdale show,
Galassi told IBI that he was hopeful but
cautious about Ferretti’s future. “If I
can’t turn this company around in three
years, I deserve to be fired,” he said. A
year later, looking happier but visibly
more fatigued, Galassi was much more
confident as the Ferretti Group enters
its second year of a turnaround. “There
aren’t that many of us, but we’re that
good,” he quipped at the FLIBS press
conference, referring to an impressive
jump in new-product launches and the
Group’s faster-than-forecasted movetowards breakeven, after seven years of
huge losses.
Financial data from the Ferretti Group
backs up Galassi’s preliminary victory
dance. In 2014, the Group had revenues of
(334m, with a negative EBITDA of (32m.
This year, sales are expected to reach
(404m, with the loss narrowing to (1m.
In 2016, the company forecasts revenues
of (480-490m, moving into the black with
an EBITDA of (16m. The company said
its order intake of its “serial” boat orders
(non-CRN brands) was up 75% in for theA Ferretti Renaissance?
AFTER YEARS OF FINANCIAL INSTABILITY, THE FERRETTI GROUP IS FINDING ITS WAY BACK TO PROFITABILITY.
THE ARCHITECT OF ITS THREE-YEAR TURNAROUND PLAN, ALBERTO GALASSI, DISCUSSES STRATEGY, GLOBAL
MARKETS AND SALES NUMBERSWORDS: MICHAEL VERDONSAlberto Galassi has moved Ferretti Group towards breakeven, after seven years of huge lossesfirst three quarters of 2015 to (320m.
CRN’s superyachts carried the company
in 2013 and 2014, before dropping back
this year, so the influx of solid orders for
its other brands is welcome, even ahead
of the original forecast. New orders from
the Americas were up 28% for the same
period to (99m. Ferretti expects European
sales to rise somewhat in 2016, with
healthy increases in North America and
moderate increases in South America and
Asia. By 2017, the Group expects sales to
reach (580m, with an EBITDA of (44m.