Fincantieri saw its income drop in the first half of this year although overall revenue was up nearly 120 million euros compared to last year, the shipbuilder reported Friday.

Trieste-based Fincantieri generated revenues of 1.372 billion euros in the first half of 2008, up from 1.256 billion euros in the same months of 2007. Net income, however, dropped from 37 million euros in 2007 to just 15.1 million euros this year.

In its financial report issued Oct. 17, Fincantieri said income suffered from “the extraordinary growth of the raw material costs.” The company said steel prices rose 25 percent during the first half of 2008 from the average cost of 2007.

New orders in the first half of 2008 were off by nearly half over the same period in 2007 – 1.425 billion euros this year compared with 2.764 billion euro in the first six months of 2007. The financial report said the new orders were acquired “despite a changed market scenario recently even worsened by the crisis of the financial markets.”