Harland & Wolff agrees $25m banking extension

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Harland & Wolff (H&W), the owner of the shipyard which built the Titanic, has entered into arrangements with its existing lenders to increase its existing facility by $25m in order to improve and stabilise its liquidity position, Insider Media reported.

The business, which was last month hit by news the UK Government was not proceeding with a £200m loan, also confirmed it has brought in Rothschild & Co to advise on strategic options and said is withdrawing all passenger services between Penzance and the Isles of Scilly to focus on its four main hubs.

At the time of the UK Government's announcement, the Belfast-based shipbuilding company said it expected to close alternative financing arrangements "shortly". 

The new agreement with its lenders brings the total commitments under the H&W facility to $140m.

As previously announced, the company has formally engaged Rothschild & Co as financial adviser to assess strategic options for the group.

John Wood, former chief executive of H&W, has terminated his employment with effect from 31 July. Russell Downs and Alan Fort are scheduled to join the board as soon as the necessary on-boarding  and due diligence procedures have been completed.

H&W also announced that it is withdrawing all passenger services between Penzance and the Isles of Scilly with immediate effect. adding that it remains focussed on growing the business in its four key delivery centres (Belfast, Appledore, Methil and Arnish) and will be winding down business lines that are deemed to be non-core for the company.

Accordingly, the fast ferry service will not be operationalised and discussions are ongoing to dispose of the fast ferry.

Malcolm Groat, chairman of Harland & Wolff, said: "We are grateful to our lenders in continuing their funding commitment to support Harland & Wolff Group's ongoing stabilisation and long-term strategy objectives. We also look forward to working with the very experienced team from Rothschild & Co to help us achieve that objective.

"The board look forward to Russell Downs and Alan Fort joining us once their appointment formalities are completed and, in the meantime, I wish to place our thanks to John for his invaluable contribution to the company's business and wish him the very best in his future endeavours."

He added: "It is regrettable that we have taken the tough decision to terminate the fast ferry, but we need to focus our energies and resources in continuing to grow the core business across our four delivery centres.

"This decision aligns with and brings us back to our fundamental five markets and six services strategy. Our ferry service team will be working closely with passengers and other counterparties to ensure a smooth transition out of this business."