Interesting comments from Austal Chair's (former US Navy...

Interesting comments from Austal Chair's (former US Navy Secretary Richard Spencer) address re. the GDEB 'Sub Shed' contract;

"The recent announcement of the funding from US Navy through a contract from General Dynamics Electric Boat, where Electric Boat will pay Austal A$670 million to build a submarine module manufacturing facility is a testament to how Austal is viewed by those in the industry.
Austal’s market capitalisation is A$1 billion, yet here is one of the biggest Defence companies in America paying Austal the equivalent of two thirds of its market cap not to build the submarine modules, but to build the facility that will ultimately build the submarine modules."

He was also quoted in the Weekend Australian;

"Does the market fully appreciate the fact that a corporate entity just received almost two thirds of it's market cap as an injection from the government with no strings attached? I don't know" he said. "The most important thing is it really underscores the endorsement of not only the US Navy, but of General Dynamics Electric Boat that Austal is a credible enough partner to receive this and be part of the shipbuilding infrastructure"

While I'm not sure if the sub shed contract should be described as "no strings attached" (then again we aren't party to the details, as no doubt RS is), it does underline what a major boost to the Austal balance sheet the capital injection will be...not to mention the ongoing work building modules for the US SSN/SSBN programmes. DYOR &GLTAH!