Austal's recovery to be "slow but sure"

The managing director of shipbuilder Austal has described the recovery of its order book as "slow but sure", as the Henderson-based company reports a significant fall in full-year profits.

Austal reported an 82 per cent fall in net profit to $9.2 million.

"The result looks pretty crappy, but there are two write-offs which are one-offs," managing director Bob Browning said.

The result was weighed down by the write-off of a $30 million loan to collapsed former client, Hawaii Superferry.

The second write-off, of $15 million, was linked to the time value cost of a hedging instrument.

The company said hedging put in place for a multi vessel program required market-to-market treatment of premium costs with no recognition of savings in foreign exchange.

Mr Browning said the result would have been closer to $40 million if it weren't for the two write-offs.

He said the US navy program was starting to ramp up and that there were two or three other proposals that had a strong chance of resulting in a lucrative contract.

A 12-month ban imposed by the Immigration Department prevented Austal hiring and renewing the visas of 457 visa workers.

Mr Browning said there were 60 to 70 workers with visas that could not have been renewed who would have been affected by the ban.

Austal has previously said the disagreement with the department centred on a point of law, as it had paid its workers correctly.