UK Swan Hunter shipyard makes ?3m profit
Swan Hunter shipyard managed to make more than £3m profit just before it closed. Despite losing its last ship to a rival facility in Scotland, the famous Wallsend yard still generated pre-tax profits of £3.2m on sales of nearly £70m just months before it was mothballed. Yard owner Jaap Kroese said the profits were made through non-Ministry of Defence work. Accounts for the year ending February 28 last year also reveal Swan's was still owed £18.7m for contracts. Mr Kroese said he only received £11m from the total investment of £29m in the yard. Swan's final ship, the Lyme Bay, was towed to rival BAE in Govan, Glasgow, last July amid mounting Government concerns about spiralling costs at the Wallsend yard.
