Wärtsilä: Market Being Steered by Environmental Awareness and Changing Energy Needs

Wärtsilä says sales growth comes at a time when the marine market is increasingly focused on environmental awareness and efficiency solutions.

Wärtsilä Corp. (Wärtsilä) Friday said the market is being increasingly driven by environmental awareness and changing energy needs.

The comments came as the company revealed its net sales during 2015's second quarter increased 10 percent to €1,230 million ($1,116 million), and are up 5 percent to €2,218 million ($2,113 million) overall so far in 2015.

The company says the growth comes as it is adjusting its operations to suit a marine market that is increasingly focused on environmental awareness and efficiency solutions.

"Environmental awareness and changing energy needs are increasingly steering investments in the markets in which we operate," said Björn Rosengren, President and CEO at Wärtsilä.

"The industry dynamics are changing, and we have fine-tuned our strategy accordingly.

"We seek growth by offering innovative and energy efficient lifecycle solutions, as well as by leveraging our leading position in gas based technology.

"As we enter new market segments, such as Oil & Gas and LNG terminals, and acquire companies that bring new products to our portfolio, the scope of our offering becomes more than simply powering ships or building power plants. Therefore, we have decided to rename our Ship Power and Power Plants businesses Marine Solutions and Energy Solutions."

In this context, Wärtsilä says the company's order intake has increased by 2 percent to €1,159 million ($1,138 million) during this year's second quarter, and by 8 percent to €2,443 million ($2,253 million) since the beginning of 2015.

The company says that it expects its net sales for 2015 to grow by as much as 10 percent, while operational profitability could grow by up to 12.5 percent overall for 2015.

On Friday Wärtsilä also announced that on response to a "sluggish" marine market it will be laying off 600 staff as it looks to restructure its Ship Power business, which has been renamed Marine Solutions.