Azimut-Benetti: World-Wide Leadership for the Italian Luxury Industry

The Azimut-Benetti Group is the world’s biggest builder of mega-yachts, according to the 17th annual analysis of the world yacht industry by Showboats International, published in the United States

Avigliana, 6 december 2007 - The Italian yacht industry confirms its title as world leader. The world rankings of producers of luxury yachts over 24 meters is topped, for the tenth straight year, by the Azimut-Benetti Group, a company with its headquarters and main production site in Avigliana (Turin) and shipyards in Viareggio, Fano, Livorno, Piacenza and Savona. The largest private group in the international yacht industry, Azimut-Benetti this year boasts a orders portfolio for luxury mega-yachts of 11,820 feet, a figure that represents the sum of the lengths of the boats currently being built.

This is the number one figure that emerges from the yearly analysis by Showboats International, a yachting magazine with an international readership that every year since 1992 has published the Global Order Book, the most attentive and accurate analysis of the world yacht industry. The document is aimed at reflecting the state of the economy linked to the international yachting industry and contains the list of all the yachts being built as of 1 September each year in the shipyards of the entire world, measuring 24.38 meters (80 feet) or superior.

According to Showboats International, the Italian yacht industry has received a number of orders for luxury mega-yachts that is four times more than the one of its closest competitor, the United States, while the world industry continues to grow at a fast clip without any slowdowns, independently of economic crises or instability at the international level. The mega-yacht market segment is not subject to the turbulence of the economy as a whole and in 2007 chalked up 18% growth in orders world-wide over last year, for a total of approximately 916 new yachts of over 24 meters (corresponding to 34.6 km of total length) and a growth orientation towards ever-larger mega-yachts. This year’s ranking shows 23 orders for yachts longer than 76.2 meters, with a 27.8% increase over last year.

According to Showboats International, Italy has dominated the yacht industry since 2001 and this year booked 427 orders for mega-yachts, which represents 43% of total orders received world-wide, for a growth of 23% with respect to 2006. In the list of the top ten mega-yacht producing countries, the United States is in second place, followed by the Netherlands and Germany.

A growth of yachting that sees Italy’s Azimut-Benetti Group as the world’s leading mega-yacht maker, with a number of orders considerably higher – by around 27% – than the second-ranked yacht builder.

“A success that is closely tied to three factors,” declared Azimut-Benetti Group President Paolo Vitelli: “our presence in all possible segments in the world of mega-yachts, our increasing internationality thanks to a vast sales network on all continents, and our continuous striving for leadership in innovation. I’ll give you an example,” Dr Vitelli went on: “We’re designing the biggest mega-yacht ever built of fiber glass, the Benetti Vision 101, a 165-footer.”

The Azimut-Benetti Group, which includes the prestigious brands Azimut Yachts, Benetti (both brands are active in the mega-yacht segment) and Atlantis, each aimed at a distinct segment of the yachting market, and Fraser Yachts, a leading brand in the services sector, registered a value of production of over 800 million euros in 2007, while the Group’s order portfolio (yachts and mega-yachts) as of 31 August 2007 had reached a value of over 1.5 billion euros.