Austal has wind in sails

Shipbuilder records ‘best year ever’ on US orders

GLOBAL shipbuilder Austal has entered the new fiscal year with a $4.9 billion order book, up from $3 billion last year, with 58 vessels under construction or scheduled.

Austal chief executive David Singleton (pictured) called it the aluminium shipbuilder’s best year ever, with full-year profit up 64 per cent to a record $61.4 million. Revenue for the 12 months to June 30 jumped 33 per cent to $1.852 billion, with four-fifths coming from the US.

Mr Singleton said Austal USA was the “powerhouse of the business,” and increasingly seen as an important component of US national defence.

The US Navy has ordered a total of 33 littoral combat ships and expeditionary fast transport ships from Austal, 20 of which have been delivered, including three last year.

On a conference call with analysts and happy investors, who have seen their shares more than double in value this year, Mr Singleton yesterday credited past management for making a bold decision to enter the US defence market 20 years ago.

It is the only foreign-owned prime contractor for the US Navy, and its shipyard in Mobile, Alabama, is the fifth-largest in the US.

But Austal also disclosed it had spent $11 million responding to investigations by US regulatory authorities and the Australian Securities & Investments Commission over Austal’s littoral, or near shore, combat ship program. Austal said the investigation involved “the procurement of certain ship components for use in US government contracts” and that it denied any wrongdoing, but could not predict whether US or Australian authorities would pursue charges.

But it noted that the probe had not hampered Austal’s relationship with the US Navy, which ordered four more littoral combat ships in the second half of last year.

Over the year Austal also delivered four guardian-class patrol boats for the Australian Government, which is giving them to small Pacific island countries, and has four more under construction.

Austal’s Australian shipyard in Henderson, Western Australia, further delivered a 109m auto ferry for a Danish company.

Austal declared a final unfranked dividend of 3¢ a share, unchanged from last year.