France's DCNS, Fincantieri Discuss Joint Venture

French naval shipbuilder DCNS and Italian rival Fincantieri are in discussions about creating a joint venture, latribune.fr website reported on Friday.

The two companies agreed this summer to come up with a roadmap to determine projects on which they could cooperate, a source close to the matter told Reuters.

According to latribune.fr, the talks cover programs such as the Multi-Mission Frigate (FREMM), research and development on future combat systems, equipment and marketing.

State-backed DCNS is also 35 percent owned by French defence company Thales. The submarine and warship manufacturer posted a loss of 336 million euros ($379 million) in 2014 on sales of 3 billion euros.

DCNS has set a 10-year target of 5 billion euros ($5.6 billion) in annual sales, of which half would be generated internationally.

Fincantieri declined to comment.

(Reporting by Cyril Altmeyer in Paris and Elisa Anzolin in Milan)