Saipem SpA Earnings - Q3 2025 Analysis & Highlights
Key Takeaways
Saipem SpA's Q3 2025 earnings call highlighted strong financial performance with revenue and EBITDA growth, driven by offshore E&C operations and strategic project wins in key regions. The company confirmed its 2025 guidance, emphasizing a robust backlog and a fully booked construction fleet for 2026. Management also discussed industry trends, including increasing deepwater drilling demand and a shifting mix toward national oil company projects.
Key Financial Results
Q3 2025 revenues were €3.8 billion, a 1.6% year-on-year increase and 2.1% sequentially.
EBITDA stood at €437 million, growing 28.5% year-on-year and 5.8% sequentially.
The highest quarterly EBITDA since 2012 was posted in Q3 2025.
The quarter ended with a stable net cash positive pre-IFRS of €844 million.
Order intake stood at €3.2 billion in Q3, representing a book-to-bill of 0.9 times.
Revenue has been climbing over the last four years due to backlog growth and steady execution.
EBITDA has constantly increased due to the quality of new awards and the reduced weight of legacy projects.
EBITDA margin has more than doubled, approaching the 12% mark.
Cash conversion remains close to 90%.
For the first nine months of 2025, revenue reached almost €11 billion, an 8% year-on-year increase.
EBITDA grew by 33% to €1.2 billion.
EBITDA margin strengthened to 10.9%, up from 8.9% in the same period last year.
The period closed with a net result of €221 million, a 7% increase compared to last year.
Operating cash flow stood at around €1.1 billion.
Business Segment Results
Asset Based Services revenue for the first nine months of 2025 reached €6.3 billion, a 15% year-on-year increase.
Asset Based Services EBITDA rose to €875 million, a 38% increase, with the EBITDA margin improving to 13.8%.
Drilling Offshore revenue for the first nine months of 2025 amounted to €638 million, a 5% reduction compared to last year.
Drilling Offshore EBITDA increased by 4% year-on-year to €258 million, with an EBITDA margin of 40.4%.
Energy Carriers revenue increased by 2% year-on-year, reaching €4 billion.
Energy Carriers EBITDA margin improved to 1.7% in the first nine months of 2025.
Capital Allocation
D&A reached €737 million, an increase of €249 million compared to last year, due to the expansion of the construction fleet and the DVD drillship lease.
Financial expenses totaled €141 million in the first nine months, increasing by €37 million year-on-year.
Income taxes declined by €14 million year-on-year, standing at €117 million for the first nine months.
The effective tax rate decreased from 39% last year to 35% this year.
Net cash position pre-IFRS 16 improved by €161 million, growing from €683 million at the end of December 2024 to €844 million at the end of September 2025.
Lease liabilities increased by close to €600 million in the first nine months, driven by a higher volume of vessels chartered and the accounting impact of the DVD lease extension.
Industry Trends and Dynamics
The company expects a turning point in the offshore drilling market, particularly in deepwater activities, with a significant ramp-up in demand from the second half of 2026 onwards.
National oil companies are more prone to awarding new contracts than international ones in this phase.
A general decrease of the Offshore E&C day rates in the second part of 2025 was observed.
Daily rates deep offshore are almost flat since the second half of 2025, but a pickup is expected in the second half of 2026.
A trend of decreasing daily rates for jack-ups, especially in the Middle East, is seen.
Growth Opportunities and Strategies
Three key projects in Türkiye, Guyana, and Azerbaijan anchor the order intake of the quarter.
In Türkiye, the company will continue to develop the highly strategic Sakarya field.
In Guyana, the Hammerhead development marks the 7th project for Exxon in the country since 2017.
In Azerbaijan, the Shah Deniz Compression project follows the signing of a framework agreement with bp in 2024.
The DVD will start operating for Eni in Indonesia towards the end of 2025, with strong potential for long-term drilling campaigning.
The Scarabeo 9 semi-sub remains focused in the Mediterranean Sea and has recently moved from Egypt to Libya, where she has started operating for Eni.
The Santorini drillship will continue to operate in West Africa for Eni in Ghana and in the Ivory Coast before moving to the Mediterranean Sea to work for Energen.
The Scarabeo semi-sub received a 12-month extension from Aker BP in Norway and will now continue to operate in the country until the end of 2027.
The company is engaging in constructive discussion with Eni in Mexico on the Perro Negro 10 unit in shallow water.
The company resumed drilling activities in late August as per plan at Courseulles.
The company is well-positioned for continued success in the medium term, with a commercial pipeline and ongoing bidding activity.
Financial Guidance and Outlook
The company expects momentum to continue into Q4.
The fourth quarter is expected to be seasonally strong in 2025.
For Q4 2025, mid to high-single-digit growth in revenue is anticipated for Asset Based Services, with a marginal improvement in the EBITDA margin.
For the fourth quarter of this year, a mid-single-digit growth in both revenue and EBITDA is expected for Drilling Offshore, supported by the new contracts signed recently.
For the last quarter of 2025, a double-digit increase in revenue is expected for Energy Carriers.
D&A in Q4 is expected to be broadly in line with what was recorded in Q3.
Positive but limited cash flow generation is expected in Q4, mainly due to the impact of the expected capital and lease repayments.
Revenue for 2026 is almost entirely secured by contracts already in place.
The construction fleet is fully booked for 2026 and getting very busy for 2027.
Commercial activity is expected to drive an acceleration in new contracts awards in the coming quarters.
The company confirms its guidance for 2025.
The company expects both EBIT margin and EBITDA margin to increase further compared to Q3 in Offshore E&C in Q4.
