VT waves goodbye to manufacturing
Long time shipbuilder VT Grouped waved a final farewell to the manufacturing sector today (1 October) with the announcement that the final stage of the disposal of its 45% shareholding in BVT Surface Fleet Limited – its joint shipbuilding venture with BAE Systems – is scheduled for completion at the end of October, position the Group as a pure support services company.
VT Group chief executive Paul Lester (pictured) said: "We expect to complete the formalities of our exit from BVT Surface Fleet this month, providing the impetus and resources to expand the business further.
In a trading update, VT said it had secured or renewed contracts worth £400 million in the first six months of the year and remained confident of performing in line with expectations.
It went on: "We continue to have a high quality order book, which at the half year will be broadly in line with the £4.5 billion reported for 31 March 2009. We have a healthy pipeline of current bids including the UK's Search and Rescue helicopter programme and the Joint Military Air Traffic Services programme. These contracts would be worth over £3 billion to VT."
