THE owner of Belfast’s Harland and Wolff shipyard has said the company is unlikely to break even this year.
In May, the London-listed Harland & Wolff Group Holdings plc, previously known as Infrastrata plc, announced a pre-tax loss of £25.5 million for the 17 months to December 2021, on revenues of just £18.5m.
The company, which bought the Belfast shipyard out of administration in late 2019, expects to generate between £65m and £75m in 2022.
But in a trading update on Tuesday, the group indicated it will require revenues of between £80m and £100m for its annualised cashflow to break-even.
Based on contract wins, Harland & Wolff said that level of revenue could be achievable in 2023, with the group aspiring to achieve revenues of £100m to £115m next year, rising to £200m in 2024.
Following its Belfast deal, the group went on to acquire additional shipyards in Devon and Scotland. All now trade under the Harland and Wolff name.
Harland & Wolff announced a £55m Ministry of Defence contract in July on behalf of the Lithuanian Defence Materiel Agency. The work will be carried out at the Devons shipyard.
Smaller barge contracts for the Cory Group have been announced for the Belfast site, worth around £18.1m.
The group said its backlog of contracts for 2023 currently stands at £40m.
But it warned its profitability remains contingent on upon a number of factors including wage and energy inflation, as well as the wider economic picture.
The latest trading update said multiple cruise and ferry vessels are also expected to arrive in the Belfast shipyard throughout the last quarter of 2022 and the first three months of next year.
