Maritime
HII Petters : Now is the ‘ Most Exciting Time ’ in Shipbuilding in 30 Years
Ingalls Shipbuilding in 2017
Credits : HII Photo
C ongress and the Pentagon are in the midst of a two-year spending spree , and Huntington Ingalls Industries ( HII ) leadership is positioning the shipbuilder to capture as many contract awards as possible before the funding window closes , perhaps as early as the Fiscal Year 2020 .
The FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act gained Senate approval this week , just ahead of a quarterly earnings call Thursday morning by HII President and CEO Mike Petters in which he detailed the company ’ s near-term strategy with Wall Street analysts . Congress opened the checkbook in 2018 and 2019 , but Petters said its unclear whether the increased spending will carry on through the next budget cycle .
For the quarter , HII reported revenues of $ 2 billion , compared to revenues of $ 1.6 billion a year ago . The revenues increase was due to increased work at the company ’ s Newport News Shipbuilding facility that builds carriers and parts of the Virginia-class submarines and refurbishes existing U . S . aircraft carriers . Earnings for the quarter were $ 257 million , an increase from the $ 241 million reported a year ago , according to the HII second quarter financial report .
“ This is the most exciting time I ’ ve seen in shipbuilding in 30 years ,” Petters said . “ If you step back and just look at what we ’ re doing now , we have an offer in to the Navy to build two aircraft carriers . Our team has an offer into the Navy to build 10 submarines . And we are in a competition for a share of 10 destroyers .”
The Navy is evaluating bids for a new guided-missile frigate , with a request for proposals expected next year and a contract award anticipat-
HII CEO Mike Petters
Credits : HII Photo
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