International partnership with South Korean shipbuilding company secures new vessel development deal.

Sealegs has finally floated into profitable waters, with the boat builder recording an operating profit of $642,000 for the year ending March.

The result follows an $869,000 loss in the previous year and is a turnaround from the $789,000 loss for the six months ending September, despite total revenue staying flat at $11.4 million.

Amphibious boat manufacturer Sealegs can offer no explanation for a 21% drop in its share price last week.

The company’s shares dropped to 15 cents on Thursday, down four cents on the previous day and down seven cents – or 31% - since the start of the month.

Its share price has sat comfortably above the 20c mark since August, before falling below it last week.

In response to the drop, the NZX asked the company on Friday if there was any material information that could have explained the drop.

Boat builder Sealegs is floating closer to an annual profit as its international reputation rises and commercial work completed some time ago pays off.

But while chief executive David McKee Wright said that elusive annual profit was on the horizon, the company has still reported a $784,000 loss for the six months ending September.

The result is an improvement on the $876,000 loss in the same period last year and an increase in sales is pushing the company towards profit, according to Mr McKee Wright.

Mumbai police have turned to New Zealand firm Sealegs for help beefing up its security in the Indian city’s waterways, which were used by terrorists last year to infiltrate and attack the city.

The North Harbour-based Sealegs International has received an order for four amphibious marine craft from the Commissioner of Police in Mumbai to be used for patrolling their waterways.

The security of those waterways was horribly exposed in November, when 10 terrorists used rubber dinghies to enter the city and slaughter 164 innocent people.

Amphibious boat maker Sealegs has repaid a $500,000 loan to the ANZ Bank after breaching a banking covenant.

The breach, outlined in the company’s just-released annual report, was for a negative variance of more than 10% between budgeted and actual full year net profit.

Sealegs, which makes wheeled boats, posted a loss of $5.76 million for the year to March, against a loss of $1.7 million last year.

Operating revenue was up 20% at $11.5 million but the bottom line was hit by IFRS and a one-off cost of cancelling the Employee Share Option Plan.