The Italian Sea Group shares plunge as losses breach legal threshold

The Italian Sea Group (TISG) has outlined a turnaround plan that may include the disposal of non-core real estate assets as part of its ongoing restructuring process.

The firm recently appointed a new CFO to oversee an audit, after launching a forensic financial investigation into ‘unauthorised’ overspending.

Shares in the company fell by more than 37 per cent on Friday (22 May 2026) following the latest announcement.

The company, whose brands include Admiral, Tecnomar, Perini Navi, Picchiotti, NCA Refit and Celi 1920, says losses identified during the preparation of a business plan and financial recovery measures constitute a material event under Article 2447 of the Italian Civil Code.

According to TISG, the exact amount of the losses is still being determined and depends on ongoing accounting reviews and expert assessments. The firm reports preliminary investigations confirm it is ‘already certain’ that the losses have reduced the company’s share capital below the minimum threshold required under Italian law.

The update follows a meeting of the company’s board of directors, which initiated the corporate actions required under the applicable regulation, including convening a shareholders’ meeting.

The board also approved the guidelines of a turnaround plan intended to preserve business continuity, including relationships with suppliers and customers, while restoring shareholders’ equity balance during the current financial year and stabilising the company’s financial position.

Measures outlined in the plan include renegotiations with ship-owning companies aimed at recovering part of the additional costs incurred on various orders, the revaluation of real estate assets, the possible disposal of non-core real estate assets and potential positive effects arising from an agreement with tax authorities.

The company says the assumptions underlying the plan provide a reasonable basis for overcoming the current financial difficulties through the implementation of the proposed measures.

TISG also states that the causes of the crisis are attributable ‘as previously disclosed to the market, to misconduct by certain senior managers acting in coordination with one another’.

TISG states that it will prepare an updated financial position and then convene a shareholders’ meeting.

Bayesian sinking impact

Perini Navi, one of the brands owned by TISG, built the Bayesian, which sank off Sicily in 2024.

TISG acquired Perini Navi in January 2021 from a bankruptcy auction along with Perini Navi’s brand, archives and real estate.

The shipbuilder maintains that it has been wrongly blamed for the tragedy and that the resulting scrutiny has negatively impacted its business. It claims to have lost hundreds of millions of euros in revenue, suffered a sharp fall in its share price and seen the value of the Perini Navi brand collapse. According to the company, planned yacht sales worth close to €1bn by 2028 have failed to materialise and no Perini-branded yachts have been sold since the sinking. It also says interest from brokers and prospective buyers has dried up entirely.

A source close to the Lynch family has rejected the claim, telling the Telegraph: “This claim is as cynical as it is predictable. The UK investigation has raised serious, unresolved questions about the yacht’s design, stability and operating characteristics, including vulnerabilities unknown to the owner and crew. This action appears designed to distract from those issues, but it will not prevent proper scrutiny of how the vessel was designed, approved and built. It is desperate, opportunistic and in bad faith.”

Forensic due diligence update

TISG states that forensic due diligence activities being carried out by KPMG Advisory, which was engaged in February 2026, have ‘experienced delays’.

According to the company, priority was given to measures intended to maintain business continuity, while changes within the first line of management created additional difficulties in retrieving historical information.

The completion of the reviews by KPMG Advisory is currently expected by the end of June or the beginning of July 2026.

TISG states that it will continue to provide updates regarding developments related to the ongoing measures in accordance with disclosure obligations under Article 17 of Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014.