Good afternoon,
Today we wanted to update you on the progress of
Quickstep Holdings (QHL), our long term investment. QHL made a significant announcement to the ASX on Wednesday this week regarding the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) development works, to view the announcement click the following link QHL
26-May-10.
In brief, all development work appears to be progressing to schedule since the Manufacturing License Agreement was signed in March.
There has been a delay in signing the final manufacturing contracts (the Long Term Agreement) which quickstep expects to sign in the second half of 2010. They are specific about the fact that this has everything to do with the administrative process required by the US Department of State to approve the release of some further technical information for the manufacture of JSF parts.
In fact, in a recent meeting with John Faulkner Minister for Defense, the Minister confirmed Australia's commitment to the JSF, a commitment which has previously been the subject of speculation due to cost and time overruns. One of the important aspects of the JSF is that any participating country can bid for parts of the project construction, and will be granted contracts should the technology be right. Because of this, Australia's commitment to the project is important.
We now expect no significant uplift in the share price of QHL this financial year, however in the next half of 2010 the share price could easily double on the back of a successful contract. We look forward to the company doing very well some time before Christmas this year. Though it has been a long time coming we expect this investment to add significant value to our
managed discretionary accounts before the year is out.
We will keep you updated as new information comes to light.
