Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) expects an income of 317-318 billion roubles ($4.48-4.5 billion) in 2015, of which 14-15 billion roubles ($198.18-212.34 million) will be net profits, USC President Alexei Rakhmanov said on Sunday. “This year, the corporation’s proceeds will increase on 2014, we expect them at a level of 317-318 billion roubles. We expect net profits also to be more than in 2014. They are most likely to reach 14-15 billion roubles. As a matter of fact, it is a record-breaking figure,” he said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 television channel. He noted however it was too early to speak about the final results, which would be clear when December was over. According to Russian accounting standards, the corporation’s net profit in 2014 was 11.7 billion roubles ($165.62 million) and its proceeds stood at 281 billion roubles ($3.97 billion).
About orders from defense ministry
Rakhmanov also said, Russia’s defense ministry accounts for 75% in the business portfolio of USC, with the rest of orders coming from commercial shipbuilders and partners in military technical cooperation. “As of today, we have a rather weighty portfolio of orders. Orders from the Russian defense ministry account for 75% of the corporation’s portfolio. The rest are the tasks we are realizing in the military technical cooperation and in civil shipbuilding,” he said. He said that despite serious efforts taken “to maximally fulfill the state defense order,” it had not been 100% executed due to a number of reasons. “First of all, it is because there are rather many flagships, which are technically complicated products with a lot of research and development work, in our order,” he said.
About building of aircraft carriers
The President of the corporation said that USC will have the full technological capability by the beginning of 2019 to start building helicopter carriers and aircraft carriers. “We’ll be ready to begin construction of helicopter carriers as well as aircraft carriers,” he said. “If you take up the technological capability for building aircraft carriers, we hope to acquire it by the beginning of 2019 as long as modernization works are completed,” Rakhmanov said. “That’s the level of readiness that will enable us to say whether or not we’re prepared to build a large-tonnage ship, be it a commercial vessel or a naval ship.” He also stressed the sufficient capability of the personnel of shipyards in the Northwest of Russia, saying it allowed the USC to organize the transfer of ‘competences’ between the various constituent elements of the corporation.