Company going ballistic over demand for military products
Gold Coast-based Craig International Ballistics is anticipating a three-year boom in demand for its military products and recently shipped off 50 pallets of armour plates to an international customer in the past six weeks.
CIB has previously sold armour to the ADF
The company said it was experiencing “a significant and sustained increase in customer demand” in its products which include body armour, shields and panels that were used by defence and security forces.
CIB, which is partly owned by the ASX-listed PPK, also recently signed a three-year supply agreement with “a leading military customer”.
“The combined effect of (this) is that CIB’s manufacturing operations are now close to 100 per cent capacity in their current format,” PPK announced to the ASX this morning.
“CIB’s forecasted pipeline anticipates that this demand is likely to continue for at least the next three years across the mix of the CIB product suite.”
In the past, CIB has sold removable armour the Australian Army’s Chinook helicopters to protect the crew and passengers from any small arms fire encountered during combat operations.
The company was also soon to receive a five-metre autoclave which would allow it to diversify its hard armour plate products and grow revenue.
When PPK bought its stake in the company in 2020, CIB’s revenues were $11.3 million and were forecast to be as high as $20 million this year.
PPK said it was also continuing its investigation to using its BNNT technology into body armour.
