Austal has released its financial results for the financial year ended 30 June 2024 which show an improvement in Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) and a slight decline in revenue.
The company recorded an EBIT of $56.5 million (FY2023: loss of $4.8m), on Revenue of $1,468.9 million.
EBIT was in line with the market guidance range (three per cent to four per cent EBIT margin on targeted eight per cent to ten per cent growth in FY2023 revenue), despite FY2024 revenue declining by around 7 per cent.
The turnaround in earnings reflected improved earnings performance from USA shipbuilding operations as well as a strong contribution from Austal’s support business.
“Austal delivered an improved financial result in FY2024 as our transition from existing to new programs continues. Our record order book continues to grow and will grow further once the Australian Government announced programs are contracted through the Strategic Shipbuilding Agreement later this year,” said Austal CEO Patrick Gregg.
“These orders will add billions of dollars of work to our Australian operations, and coupled with recent commercial wins, means a recovery in Australasian financial results is expected.”
Gregg said despite a slight drop in revenue, he remains confident that Austal has a positive outlook.
“While Australasia underperformed financially due to fewer commercial shipbuilding awards and later than expected defence awards, we are well positioned for a long runway of Australian defence vessel build programs,” said Gregg.
“The support business was a strong earnings contributor across both the USA and Australasia. We had predicted support revenue would reach $500 million by FY2027. At $467 million we were very close to getting there three years early.”
The company also announced key changes to the Board and management during the year.
Former US Secretary of Navy Richard Spencer joined the board of Austal USA and Austal Limited and replaced John Rothwell as Chairman on 1 July 2024.
Rothwell was the Company’s inaugural chairman and retired from the position to continue serving on the Board as a non-executive director.
Michelle Kruger was appointed as President of Austal USA in April 2024, after being appointed to the role on an interim basis in August 2023.