According to its 2005 Annual Report, ASC Pty Ltd, formerly Australian Submarine Corporation, has recorded an annual profit of $16.2 million on total revenue of $229.3 million. As earlier DID coverage has noted, ASC was selected as the preferred shipbuilder for the SEA 4000 Air Warfare Destroyer program. ASC is also the key maintenance provider for Australia’s new Collins Class submarines after completing the contract to build and launch them in cooperation with Kockums AB.
This profit compares to $16.1 million in FY 2003/04, on total revenues of $255.9 million. Meanwhile, total assets rose by about $50 million in FY 2004/05, to $293.9 million. As our many Australian readers are aware, however, there’s more to this story.
ASC Chairman John Prescott said that 2004/05 marks ASC’s fundamental transition from a single project business to a sustainable, multi-project company, and that ASC’s appointment as the Air Warfare Destroyer shipbuilder was the culmination of a strategy developed and implemented over many years. The firm now has a team of over 250 naval engineers and technicians, and its Chairman claims that this is “the single largest repository of naval engineering skills in Australia.”
The other key piece of information is that ASC, previously known as the Australian Submarine Corp., is due to be privatized in 2006. The 2005/06 Federal Budget has a provision for a scoping study to determine the most appropriate method and timing of the sale. The firm had been privately owned until late 2000, when the Australian Government took full ownership of the company.
In ASC’s 2005 Annual Report, its Board declared the following objectives:
* Protection of the national interest;
* Maintenance of a competitive naval shipbuilding and repair industry;
* Ensuring the sustainability of ASC post-privatisation;
* Minimising ongoing risk to the Australian Government; and
* Enhancing the sale value of ASC.
To achieve these objectives, the Board noted that it “continues to implement aggressive sale readiness preparations.”