The Austal Limited (ASX: ASB) share price is rising today following the successful completion of acceptance trials by its newest ship.
At the time of writing, the shipbuilding group's shares are trading at $2.38, up 1.06%
Completion of acceptance trials
Investors are pushing the Austal share price higher after the company released a positive update.
According to today's announcement, the future USS Savannah has completed acceptance trials in the Gulf of Mexico. The new naval vessel is the 14th Independence-class littoral combat ship (LCS) built by Austal for the United States Navy.
Acceptance trials consist of a number of tests conducted by Austal's US team while the vessel is at sea. These include assessing the ship's major systems and equipment for warfighting capabilities, before delivery proceeds.
According to the company, the new combat ship is a high-speed, shallow-draft surface combatant with an aluminium trimaran hull that provides class-leading, multi-mission capability. The ship is designed to defeat littoral threats and provide access and dominance along coastal waters. In addition, the vessel has flexibility to execute surface warfare, mine warfare and anti-submarine warfare missions.
The new naval vessel is scheduled for delivery to the US Navy late next month.
The future USS Savannah will be homeported in San Diego, along with the other 13 Independence-class LCSs.
Austal CEO Paddy Gregg commented:
The successful completion of acceptance trials for Savannah, in the same week as the commissioning of [the USS] Mobile, clearly demonstrates the capabilities of the Austal USA team to deliver multiple naval ship programs for the US Navy, productively and efficiently.
Austal said its US Independence-class LCS program is running at a full rate of production, with four ships under construction. The future USS Canberra is in its final assembly and readying for launch on 5 June. Furthermore, the USS Santa Barbara is also in the final stages of its assembly, while fabrication works are being done on USS Augusta and USS Kingsville. The future USS Pierre is expected to begin fabrication later this year.
About the Austal share price
Austal shares have fallen by more than 20% over the past 12 months. The company's shares hit a 52-week high of $3.86 in June 2020, and a multi-year low of $1.98 in March this year.
On valuation metrics, Austal has a market capitalisation of about $853 million, with around 359 million shares on issue.
