Even before discussing the figures for the first quarter of 2026, Stassi Anastassov felt the need to explain who he is and, above all, what his vision of the yachting business is. His first conference call as CEO of Ferretti Group was therefore not the classic financial presentation marked by margins, orders and guidance, but almost a programmatic speech addressed to the group’s international investors.

This was not a secondary point, because the new CEO comes from worlds very different from yachting — above all Procter & Gamble and Duracell — and part of the market wanted to understand whether the decision to entrust Ferretti to a manager from outside the marine industry would bring discontinuity or not.

Anastassov’s answer was built around one very precise concept: iconic brands cannot live off their legacy. “I have always managed very strong brands, sometimes iconic ones. But I have never been their founder. I have always been a custodian,” he explained. “My task is to take a company and leave it to the next generation in better condition.”

The reference to yachting came immediately afterwards. Anastassov mentioned Carlo Riva, Norberto Ferretti, Alberto Galassi and Piero Ferrari as the figures who contributed to building today’s Ferretti Group, openly defining them as the people “on whose shoulders” he now finds himself working. And it is interesting to note how the new CEO chose to frame his arrival not around the idea of disruption, but around continuity. More than once he insisted on the solidity of the governance structure, recalling how Ferretti has maintained a stable and coherent management organisation over recent years, something he considers essential to guarantee execution and reliability.

Anastassov explained that he spent his first 48 hours meeting employees, managers, suppliers and partners, always asking the same three questions: what role they hold, what they concretely do and, above all, what their exclusive responsibility is. Behind this approach lies a managerial culture strongly focused on organisational clarity and individual accountability, themes to which the new CEO returned several times during the call.

But perhaps the most significant moment of the conference call came when Anastassov tried to explain what Ferretti truly represents in his industrial vision. “Ferretti is not a luxury handbag or accessory,” he observed. “It is a sophisticated machine on which people take their families to sea, facing wind, salt, storms and difficult conditions.”

In many ways, that sentence summarised the entire approach of the new CEO: less luxury rhetoric and more attention to the industrial substance of the product. Not surprisingly, Anastassov spoke at length about engineering, materials, durability, build quality, connectivity and technical reliability, almost as if he wanted to shift the company narrative away from pure brand value toward the concrete ability to build technologically advanced and highly complex yachts.

Even the metaphor he used during the call should be read in this context. Anastassov described Ferretti as an iceberg: above the waterline are the brands, the design, the polished teak, the perceived quality and the iconic image of Riva or Pershing; below the surface are industrial processes, supply chain, procurement, engineering and cost control. And it is precisely that “invisible” part which, in his view, finances the company’s ability to continue innovating.

Another key theme of the new management also emerged here: growth must be profitable. Anastassov explicitly ruled out both the pursuit of easy volumes and cost-cutting policies that could weaken the product or the value of the brand. "Great companies must be able to grow both the top line and the bottom line at the same time," he explained, suggesting a strategy strongly focused on operational efficiency and margins. From a strategic standpoint, the clearest indications concerned the United States. Anastassov defined the American market as an absolute priority, explaining that US customers have different expectations compared with European ones and that the group’s offering will also need to evolve accordingly.

There was also strong emphasis on technology and on the risk of accelerated obsolescence. “We do not want what is best today, but what will be best tomorrow,” the manager said, introducing another theme likely to become central in the group’s future narrative: the need to anticipate technological evolution rather than chase it.

Sustainability inevitably entered the discussion as well, although interpreted through a very pragmatic lens. Anastassov spoke about sustainable performance, innovative materials and emissions, avoiding ideological tones and insisting above all on the need to develop durable and industrially solid solutions.

The closing part of his speech was highly personal. Anastassov recounted the story of his family emigrating from Bulgaria in the 1960s “with nothing except talent and the ability to work hard”, indicating work ethic as his main managerial reference point.

To explain this approach concretely, the new CEO said he was already prepared to take an intercontinental flight personally to meet a hesitant client and turn a potential negotiation into a confirmed order. An anecdote that, more than grand managerial slogans, probably conveys the tone Anastassov wants to give his management style: direct, operational and execution-oriented.

And indeed, the final sentence delivered during the call seems to clearly explain the level of ambition with which the new CEO intends to approach this phase. “I have never aimed to be as good as competitors,” he told investors. “The goal is to be better.”