Energy and marine propel RINA international growth

Expanding international testing, inspection, certification and consulting engineering group RINA has grown strongly during 2014, propelled by an upturn in marine, acquisition in the energy sector and international diversification. Turnover for 2014 grew 13 per cent to Euro 333 million. EBITDA (adjusted) grew to Euro 37.7m.

Ugo Salerno, Chairman and CEO of RINA S.p.A., says, “2014 was an important year for RINA. We were not only able to seize opportunities for new business around the world such as major development projects in Egypt and Turkmenistan, but we were also able to take advantage of signs of recovery in shipping and opportunities in energy. We now look forward with optimism because our spirit of innovation, our deep research and strong competences give us a platform for success. The hard work of our people, their talent for constantly reinventing themselves to meet the market needs and their ability to cross frontiers and feel at home everywhere underpin RINA’s development.”

Results for RINA’s Energy business line stood out in 2014, growing 23 per cent thanks to the consolidation of the acquisition of materials specialist CSM (Centro Sviluppo Materiali) and outstanding growth in countries such as Indonesia and Brazil.

Floating offshore units have a specific focus within RINA. They include offshore support vessels, mobile drilling rigs, offshore field construction units, oil and gas import and export offshore terminals and floating production and storage units. Class and class related specialist services to this sector grew throughout 2014, totalling at the year’s end about 1.45m GT and 320 units in operation or ongoing new building and conversion projects.

The Marine business grew 5 per cent. RINA Services, the group company which delivers ship classification and certification ended the year with a classed fleet of 5,166 vessels totalling 34m GT and with an order book for 680 vessels totalling 4.6m GT. RINA also confirmed its place as the global leader in classification of passenger ro-ro ferries and ro-ro vessels in general and as a major player in the cruise ship sector, whether measured by classed fleet or new order book.

New orders in 2014 included two mega cruise ships for MSC Cruises. The 5,300-passenger vessels will be built by Fincantieri and will include innovative open spaces and very high environmental performance. RINA Services is also classing a significant jumboisation project for MSC Cruises, the Renaissance Project. Also in the cruise sector Seabourn Cruise Line ordered two 604-passengers luxury cruise vessels to RINA class at Fincantieri and RINA class was chosen for two similar vessels to be built for Silversea Cruises.

RINA also focussed on providing value-added services to shipowners, always aiming to reduce costs, reduce risks and improve fleet availability. The strong service ethic of RINA’s global network led shipowners to move 400 ships totalling 2.6m GT to RINA class during 2014.

Within the rest of the group, Business Assurance grew 3.5 per cent and Transport and Infrastructures grew 20 per cent and for the first time were able to compete in major projects outside Italy. Food testing and certification grew 13 per cent with Agroqualità, RINA’s food company, becoming the leader in South Italy and the second largest nationally.

RINA’s consulting engineering company D’Appolonia grew 7 per cent thanks to  diversification and international growth in areas such as the Mozambique, India, Uruguay, USA.

RINA’s group strategy of growth through targeted acquisition continued with the acquisition of material specialist CSM, Tunisian food laboratory Lab21, Brazilian certification company Bracert and marine survey company Hayes Stuart in Canada. This international growth was underpinned by the capital investment of Intesa Sanpaolo and Vei Capital who together provided Euro 25m in capital and put at the disposal of the group a further Euro 75m to fund the international growth plan.

 RINA is a multi-national group which delivers verification, certification, conformity assessment, marine classification, environmental enhancement, product testing, site and vendor supervision, training and engineering consultancy across a wide range of industries and services. RINA operates through a network of companies covering Marine, Energy, Infrastructures & Construction, Transport & Logistics, Food & Agriculture, Environment & Sustainability, Finance & Public Institutions and Business Governance. With a turnover of over 330 million Euros in 2014, over 2,750 employees, and 163 offices in 60 countries worldwide, RINA is recognized as an authoritative member of key international organizations and an important contributor to the development of new legislative standards.        

Contacts:

Giulia Faravelli

Media Relations Manager RINA

+39 010 5385505

giulia.faravelli@rina.org

Victoria Silvestri

Media Relations RINA

+39 010 5385555

victoria.silvestri@rina.org

RINA Services acquires QIC Inc to expand oil and gas services

Expanding international testing, inspection, certification and consulting engineering group RINA has acquired Houston-based QIC Inc as part of its strategy to expand and internationalise services to the oil and gas industries.

QIC (www.qicinc.com) is a leading testing, inspection and certification (TIC) company serving major and independent operators as well as manufacturers in the energy industry. The company provides highly trained and experienced quality field inspectors, consultants, engineers and specialists to deliver customers mission-critical, quality surveillance and ensure asset integrity. Founded in 1990, and headquartered in Houston, Texas, QIC has expanded its presence globally with locations in Louisiana, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Malaysia. Existing QIC management will continue to lead the company’s operations as part of the RINA group of companies.

“We are very pleased with the opportunities this combination will bring to our loyal customers and employees,” said Douglas Fletcher, founder of QIC. “We could not have selected a better partner than RINA to drive expansion and take QIC to the next level.”

QIC will maintain its brand and operate as a RINA group company. The acquisition reflects RINA’s strategy of growing by acquiring high quality companies with complementary expertise and access to new markets, among which US holds a great potential for the Italy-based company. At the same time, QIC will be able to widen the range of services offered to its clients and expand into areas where RINA is already strong as a certification and classification society.

“QIC is a well-established TIC company with a strong, blue-chip customer base of operators and manufacturers operating globally with expertise that complements that of RINA,” said Stefano Socci, General Manager Americas, RINA Services. “The RINA and QIC combination will allow us to more rapidly expand our presence in the global offshore and subsea markets.”

RINA is a multi-national group which delivers verification, certification, conformity assessment, marine classification, environmental enhancement, product testing, site and vendor supervision, training and engineering consultancy across a wide range of industries and services. RINA operates through a network of companies covering Marine, Energy, Infrastructures & Construction, Transport & Logistics, Food & Agriculture, Environment & Sustainability, Finance & Public Institutions and Business Governance. With a turnover of over 330 million Euros in 2014, over 2,750 employees, and 163 offices in 60 countries worldwide, RINA is recognized as an authoritative member of key international organizations and an important contributor to the development of new legislative standards.

For more information, visit www.rina.org.

 

Contacts

RINA Giulia Faravelli Media Relations Manager RINA +39 010 5385505 giulia.faravelli@rina.org Victoria Silvestri Media Relations RINA +39 010 5385555 victoria.silvestri@rina.org

QIC Chad Fletcher Vice President +1 281 370 2700 clfetcher@qicinc.com Kyle Fletcher Vice President +1 281 370 2700 kfletcher@qicinc.com

RINA acquires leading materials technology centre CSM

Growing Italian engineering, testing, inspection, certification and ship classification group RINA has bought the major shareholding in Italy’s leading centre for innovation in materials technology, CSM. The move strengthens RINA’s expertise in specialised steel processes and products, especially for the energy sector, and in innovative waste to energy conversion technologies.

RINA CEO Ugo Salerno says, “Bringing CSM into RINA is part of our long-term growth strategy of developing and widening our specialist competence. CSM’s very highly skilled engineers and scientists bring skill sets which complement ours and will enable us to grow faster in developing countries and in the offshore energy business, two areas of major opportunity for RINA.”
CSM CEO Mauro Pontremoli says, “Joining RINA gives us the financial platform and market outreach we need to deliver our skills and knowledge globally. We already earn 45 per cent of our revenues outside Italy and there is huge demand for advanced materials knowledge in the developing world, especially in steel and metal alloys processes and products. Working with RINA we can capitalise on our knowledge base, our over 800 patents and our innovative processes such as in waste-to-energy and in pipeline development.”

CSM has a turnover of around Euro 30 million and employs around 300 people in centres across Italy. Its acquisition will boost RINA’s projected 2014 turnover to around Euro 330 million.
RINA is a multinational group that provides services for verification, certification, conformity assessment, marine classification, environmental development, product testing, supervision and qualification of suppliers, engineering consultancy and training across a broad range of industries and services. RINA operates through a network of companies dedicated to different sectors: Shipping, Energy, Infrastructure and Construction, Logistics and Transport, Environment and Quality, Agribusiness and Health, Finance and Public Institutions, Business Governance. With a turnover over 280 million euros in 2012, over 2,200 staff, and 150 offices in 53 countries around the world, the group is able to meet the needs of its clients and at the same time is recognized as authoritative participant in the main international organizations developing new regulatory standards. www.rina.org

CSM was founded in 1963 by Italy's major steel manufacturers and end-users with the mission to develop steel technologies and applications. Over time CSM widened the range of its technological interests and skills to cover new capabilities related to new materials, products and manufacturing technologies in order to become a reference research centre for steel and high tech industry both at national and European level. Today, Centro Sviluppo Materiali is a prominent enterprise among European top materials R&D centres, co-operating with Italian and international industries, universities and research agencies and playing a recognised role as a national and international reference-point for innovation on materials. www.c-s-m.it

For more information:

Susanna Gorni
Media Relations RINA Group
Ph. +39 010 5385555
Mail. susanna.gorni@rina.org

Elisabetta Amici
External Relations CSM
Ph. +39 06 5055780
Mail. E.amici@c-s-m.it