Australian shipbuilder Austal wins $680 million defence contract (updated)

Austal

18/12/2025 02:13

Adds details from paragraph 2 onwards

Dec 18 (Reuters) - Australia's Austal ASB.AX said on Thursday it had won a government shipbuilding contract worth A$1.03 billion ($679.59 million).

The company's unit, Austal Defence Shipbuilding Australia, has been tasked to design and build 18 landing craft medium vessels at its Henderson shipyard in Western Australia, Austal said in a statement.

Construction of the first vessel is scheduled to commence in 2026, with the final vessel due for delivery in 2032.

Shares of the shipbuilder rose as much as 1.7% to A$6.04 after the announcement, before reversing course to trade down 0.4%.

The Australian government last week said that it would not oppose a proposal by South Korea's Hanwha to nearly double its stake in Austal to 19.9% from 9.9%, but it would be constrained by strict conditions covering data access and security.

($1 = 1.5156 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Nikita Maria Jino in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

 ((Nikita.Jino@thomsonreuters.com;))