The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma has just been released. Listen here.
You go gal, lol.
We'll make the Tele front page with the Mary B conga, lol.
Right MaryBr. You've been voted the NI Events Manager, lol.
When's the Harl night out at the Crown ?
We could still have a Belfast nite out and a feed of drink in the meantime. There seems to be quite a few of us posters from over here (and i've met a few of the Irish contingent alreaady).
The Crown sounds good and you're buying Gusto if we're at a pound plus,and if it's not, we can all bring a few sandwiches in a packed lunch, lol.
Lol Si. Yep, i've been chattin to Tuggy, my boaty buddy. The end of March is the word on waters that Pentalina is here until. I cant confirm obviously if that's correct or not, as Tuggy doesnt always get it right.
As for Lady Ellen. She's a lovely big gurl and although she's been in Belfast a while, inc at the SRQ (ship repair quay), she wont be adding much dough to the Harl balance sheet. It's one of the tall ships, and a real beauty too, but she's only more or less parked up in Belfast docks while it's on tour so to speak.
I see the ferry Pentalina is due in the Belfast yard tomorrow and scheduled to be there for almost 6 weeks.
That's quite a while so hopefully it's getting extensive works done.
I think 'nob' is such a great word.
It really does say so much for so few letters.
Sorry for this non Harl related post, but i seem to be saying this word so much recently and thought i would take the opportunity to write it.
NOB !
I think i feel a little better now.
Jabido. I asked this exact question at a site visit as i too was interested.
LG's answer more or less explains it. Having the hull plan for each vessel prior to the vessel coming in, they then have the blocks in place that the ship comes to reast on as they let the water out. Before letting the water out of the dock the vessel is aligned by various lasers to ensure it's coming down in the position it needs to be.
I did mischievously ask Stevie the site manager if a vessel had ever missed the blocks or ever toppled of the blocks once it was on them. He said it had never happened, and he's been there a long time.
Apparently on a few occasions many years ago they've used divers to see that a vessel was coming down in place as the water was being pumped out.
TTNY the geek, lol.
No probs at all Avy. It was just a simple cut and paste exercise.
I've asked a few folk Stokey about Tidesurge inc a 'tuggy' contact i speak to occasionally, but there's not even a whisper of why it's in Belfast. That's unusual as there's quite often some 'word on the street' (or waters should i say).
All i can tell you is that it's at the D1 berth and this is the berth used by the various cruise vessels that come into Belfast.
“If we do have to, that would be very short-term in nature until the training catches up with the demand.
“But the value that people you bring in from overseas would bring to the local economy is still a huge benefit to Belfast.
“It’s not a preferred route, but we have to be realistic because we are in a time where there’s a skills shortage.
“We will do what we need to to make sure the ships are delivered on time and on budget.”
The firm estimates it will receive around 50% of the total £1.6bn contract value.
He said the company was pleased with progress after buying the yard.
It even changed its name from InfraStrata to H&W to capitalise on the name recognition.
“We started out on a five-year programme and we’re now at the three-year point,” he explained.
“We’re extremely happy, and by the time we get to the end of this year we’re looking at a backlog of contracted work across the group of £1bn.
“On December 5, 2019 we had a contracted backlog of zero — that’s quite some turnaround.
“It’s a company that’s moving forward after it struggled for so many years, and that’s because of persevering across the five markets we work in: oil and gas; renewables; cruise and ferry; commercial maritime, and defence.
InfraStrata first made headlines for its controversial plan to build gas storage caverns in the seabed at Islandmagee.
The project is opposed by environmentalists and has been mired in delays, with the grant of a marine licence to the company for the work being challenged in the courts.
He said it was still all systems go. “The judicial review gets heard in May this year and we’re reasonably confident that the licence award will be upheld,” he added.
Looking ahead, he thinks the FSS project will still be having a positive impact even after the vessels have sailed away.
“In 2035, after FSS is complete and lots of new projects come in, I don’t see any reason why, between core workforce and contracted workforce, you can’t be looking at 5,000 people in that shipyard if it was running at full capacity,” he said.
“That’s a long look out into the future, and there are a lot of bridges between now and then, but assuming it was running at full capacity, there’s no reason it can’t be 5,000, and bringing a big economic benefit.”
In the 17 months ending December 31, 2021, it had revenues of £18.5m, up from £1.5m the year before. But there was a loss of £25.5m.
The company attributed the lower forecast to supply chain delays and order cuts worth at least £34m.
But it still represents a 56% increase on the £18.5m turnover of the earlier period.
As well as its defence work, the ship repair side of the business remains strong.
He added: “Two ships arrived on February 1 — jack-up barge The Excalibur and The Butterfly.”
The Excalibur is the first jack-up barge to enter the yard.
He said: “There were zero jobs when we acquired the assets in 2019. We took on 45 people, now there’s about 600 people in Belfast, depending on the workload that we’ve got.
“With the addition of the FSS programme, that’s another 900, so that’s 1,500 at peak of production.
“New machinery will be improving productivity. If you had to do it manually, you wouldn’t do it competitively.
“There’s a balance between building a highly-skilled workforce of the future using automation versus sticking in the past and not being able to win any work.”
There are strategies in place for filling the 900 posts.
John explained: “We’ve already taken on a large intake of apprentices in the last three years and we continue to ramp that up. We’re also looking at mid-life apprentices and older-age apprentices.
“And we’re looking at bringing back some of the old workforce, and one of the areas we’ve seen a lot of traction on is workers who used to work in the shipyard who have since moved to places like Abu Dhabi, Australia, Canada and America. We’ve a lot of those guys who are looking to come back.
“It’s all about getting the word and the message out that Belfast is open for business again.
“For us, this is all about building a legacy, and a shipyard and a skill base for the future as well.”
Hiring staff from abroad hasn’t been ruled out.
He added: “Well, look, at the moment that’s not in the plans… if we can’t get the volume of workers... to build and deliver the ships, so that’s something we keep as a last resort and last option.
Monday's edition of the Belfast Telegraph had some info on H & W including quite an interview with John Wood where he states '5,000 jobs by 2023'. Here's the link below :-
https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/northern-ireland/harland-and-wolff-boss-confident-company-could-have-5000-workers-by-2035/1379367464.html
It's a subscribers access only link so I've pasted the newspaer article below as I wouldn't imagine too many of our cross channel chums subscribe to the local 'Tele', lol.
Harland & Wolff boss John Wood says major investment to equip the Belfast yard for its part in a £1.6bn defence contract will transform its fortunes.
After decades of decline, Harland & Wolff chief executive John Wood believes the Belfast operation could have a workforce of 5,000 by 2035.
Four years ago the business went into administration under old owners, Dolphin Drilling.
The firm, and wider UK shipbuilding industry, had lost out to global competitors, and a new specialism in renewable energy was insufficient to keep it going.
UK plc InfraStrata made a successful £6m bid for H&W in October 2019. Since then there’s been a gradual recovery.
That gained momentum when Team Resolute, a consortium of H&W, Navantia in Spain and ship designer BMT, won a £1.6bn MoD contract to build fleet support ships (FSS).
Final assembly will take place in Belfast between 2025 and 2031, but a massive spend is required to enable that it happen.
John said: “You can’t build ships in an antiquated shipyard with nothing in it. However, it’s not really just about the FSS, but the wider capability of that yard.
“Utilising the FSS contract is really to build the foundations of the shipyard of the future to make sure we’re actually capable of building ships for the export market, so that once the three FSS are completed and handed over, we’ve got production facilities that are efficient and can compete with the best in Europe.
“Once this facility is built, it will be one of the most technologically-advanced marine fabrication facilities in the UK, and it will put us at the forefront of shipbuilding for decades.”
At its peak in the 1930s, H&W employed 30,000. It forecasts the FSS contract will require it to hire 900 new workers.
Skills have moved on since the firm’s heyday, John added.
“The key thing is the high-tech nature of the robotics and the automation of all that machinery,” he explained.
“There’s a different type of worker it requires now rather than all the welders and beaters. You’ve got the high-tech element of the computer operators, the digital designers, the robot operators… we obviously can’t do that all overnight.”
A trading update on December 30 stated revenues for 2022 would be between £29m and £31m. A previous update had projected revenues of £65m to £75m.
NOTE - I'll continue this article in a 2 further posts (as there are too many characters for this one post).
There's a pinta Black Stuff here for ya anytime Stokey.
I seen your name badge at the last Belfast event and was disappointed you couldn't make it.
You could be right Gusto. Hopefully you might attend one of the future Investors' Days, and get the opportunity to tell me this in person.
PS - Hold for Gold !
Gusto1 @14.28. I have a confession. That confession being :-
I, TTNY am a scumbagg !
Can i therefore request that you bless me Gusto for i have sinned. It has been 50 minutes since my last transaction. I know greed is a bad thing, but i just can't help myself. My inner desires for such things as a retirement fund and general wealth creation just consume me so much that I've become a trader. . . Yes, i said it, I'm a trader ! This bad behaviour is something I've been doing for 25+ years and it's not something I'm proud off. I really do wish it wasn't necessary but this bad entity called the 'volatility devil' makes me do it ! he's a very very bad man and invisibly sits on my shoulder saying things to me like, sell, buy, sell, buy, buy, sell, etc. He makes me press the buy and sell button ! !
I know some people (inc yourself), look down on me, because of me being one of those 'trader' creatures, and i totally deserve this anger and hate you have. In my defence though (if this can be defended), i only buy and sell a smaller amount of up to 40 to 50k of Harl shares at any one time. This is a small percentage of my total Harl holdings, the bigger bulk of my Harl shares i don't trade with, these being the more respectable 'invested' ones.
I do pray that this and all my equities only ever go in one direction (up obviously) in future and that i can put this life of trading behind me.
Ta for reading, and sorry again Gusty.
Ps - Hold for Gold ;-)
I bought into MMAG around 20p and sold out at 30p, thinking i was some pup and a super investor with a 50% uplift in a very short time.
What do i know obviously, lol.
Anyway, back in at 40p again, and this time i'm gonna be a stayer. The Walmart connection will hopefully be a big boost when that's up and running to full potential.
Cheers Stokey and Si for the info on Excalibur and Dutch Pearl coming in to the yard.
I was down at the docks in Belfast this evening and chatting to one of the boaty boyos there, he tells me that Excalibur is expected to be in Belfast for a month.
I wasn't able to get any info on what it's having done, but if it is in for a month it's definitely getting a bit more done than just an oil and filter change.
BP (10.48).
The debt concern is there, no doubt about that. The debt facility though has taken away the concerns we've had at various times though in the past few years, that concern of being of able to keep the lights on until something of substance actually landed.
It has landed now with the FSS contract, it'll be just good to get the subcontract detail on this and hopefully this will be as lucrative as we expect.
With all the FSS drama recently there hasn't been as much discussion on the Islandmagee opportunity. This is something that genuinely excites me on where it might go. With all the delays in this project, JW and team have subsequently had a very very long time to explore the options open to them in taking this forward.
I wonder several things from this :-
With all the boaty related stuff comìng to fruitìon now and the expected influx of work from the big wurley windmills, could H & W now be bothered with IM (or be capable with manpower of carrying out the work now ?).
Is the most likely option a sale and retaining some sort of financial interest.
I personally feel this is the route they might take.
What's IM worth ? If it is 30, 50, 70M (and these i believe might be very conservative), then this cash injection will greatly reduce the debt concern BP.
The judicial review isn't that far off (May). Again with JW having had so much time since the marine license was granted, i'm expecting he will have a decision more or less already made on what happens next with IM, once the JR hurdle is jumped.
I'm therefore expecting the button to be pressed on the chosen option very quickly after the JR.
I'll get my CV ready Stokey.
I think this greybeard might be too grey though to be taken seriously, lol.
Cheers FD.
You're doing a service here cutting and pasting my previous post. I am very positive on where the share price could be heading. Folk need to be careful though on my positivity too though (if indeed anyone takes any heed of lil ol me, which i doubt, lol).
This is still a volatile share with unknowns.
My positivity could be from looking through rose tinted glasses with a desire to get a return on my investment. . . Or . . . It could be from research i feel i've done as thoroughly as i can and have a belief we're finally going somewhere as a company. I believe it's the latter, but i could be wrong.
My point is, anyone investing or invested here, be careful if you put too much credence on my thoughts or anyone elses.