Wärtsilä, the engine-maker and engineering company, saw its order intake increase by 11% to €1,413 million with sales up 4% to €1,007 million in 1Q 2017, the company said in its interim report.

Wärtsilä President and CEO, Jaako Eskola, said: “Wärtsilä’s order intake development was clearly the highlight of the first quarter. Services’ order intake was boosted by growing interest in long-term service agreements, while customers in the energy markets continued to invest in new power generation, both in the emerging markets and industrialised countries. Orders received in the marine solutions business were also at a reasonable level, thanks to continued activity in the cruise and FSRU [Floating Storage Regasification Units] markets. Although vessel contracting has remained low, signs of improving sentiment indicate a gradual recovery in demand towards the latter part of the year.

“The higher level of power plant deliveries supported both net sales development and our underlying performance in the first quarter. Looking ahead, we expect service activity to improve thanks to customers’ maintenance schedules and the increased demand for long-term agreements in both of our end markets. This, together with the stabilised pricing environment in energy solutions, provides a good basis for the second half of 2017.”

Wärtsilä’s current order book for 2017 deliveries is €2,744 million, which mainly comprises marine solutions’ and energy solutions’ deliveries. Wärtsilä will continue to focus on improving efficiency, which is expected to partially offset lower volumes in the marine markets. The pricing environment in the energy solutions markets has stabilised, but the order book is still impacted by the competitive pressure seen in previous years. The good performance in services is expected to continue.

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