(Alliance News) - Harland & Wolff Group Holdings PLC on Wednesday said the formal contract signature of the manufacturing contract for the Fleet Solid Support programme has now taken place between Navantia UK Ltd and the UK Ministry of Defence.
Shares in Harland & Wolff closed up 36% to 22.20 pence each in London on Wednesday.
The London-based infrastructure projects and physical asset lifecycle company said the deal worth around GBP1.6 billion follows the award of preferred bidder status as announced on November 16.
A formal ceremony took place at Harland & Wolff's Belfast facility on Wednesday, with UK defence secretary Ben Wallace, senior industry leaders representatives of each party of Team Resolute in attendance.
Team Resolute is a collaboration between Harland & Wolff, BMT and Navantia.
Harland & Wolff said the signed contract clears the way for the execution of its subcontract with Navantia, which is expected to occur in the next couple of weeks.
Upon execution of the sub-contract, it said it will make a further announcement, leading up to full scale production on FSS.
"The execution of the manufacture contract is the second major step towards kick-starting the FSS programme, with the preferred bidder announcement in November as the first step. I look forward to finalising our negotiations on the sub-contract with Navantia and proceeding to formal signing," said Harland & Wolff Chief Executive Officer John Wood.
By Greg Rosenvinge, Alliance News reporter
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Harland & Wolff (HARL)