A COATINGS company in the region has been awarded work on the unfinished naval ship, the Lyme Bay, which left Swan Hunter's Tyneside shipyard last year.

The marine division of Gateshead Pyeroy Group has won a contract worth several million pounds to paint the Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel.

About 120 people will be involved in the project over the next five months as part of the completion works being undertaken by BAE Systems, at its shipyard in Govan, Glasgow.

The Lyme Bay was being built by Swan Hunter at its Wallsend shipyard, but the Ministry of Defence pulled out of the contract last summer due to lengthy delays and huge cost overruns.

In July, the 16,160-tonne vessel was towed away from the Tyne to be completed by rival BAE Systems.

Pyeroy has long-standing links with major ship repair and shipbuilding projects and has offices in Rosyth, Belfast, Govan and Birkenhead to manage its commercial and Royal Navy contracts.

Recently, the company won the contract for the painting and protective coatings work required by Babcock Engineering Services as part of the refit of HMS Liverpool, a Type 42 destroyer, in the Rosyth Royal Dockyard.

Hugh Pelham, managing director of Pyeroy, said: "These are highly prestigious contracts and have been won against stiff competition.

"Over the years, we have become recognised leaders in providing high specification protective coatings for MOD warships."

Pyeroy's work on the Lyme Bay will also include the provision of scaffolding and industrial cleaning services.

The protective coatings work will involve the preparation and coating of topside and superstructure surfaces; blasting and coating external weather decks and the refurbishment of all internal compartments.

The contract includes the application of specialist coatings on the flight decks. The painting is expected to continue through to the summer, when the Lyme Bay is scheduled to be ready for final inspection before leaving the Clyde.

* BAE Systems increased profits to more than £1bn last year, the company announced yesterday.

The company said the performance of its US businesses had been excellent. BAE said it continued to look for opportunities in the US and said the current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq were generating a high level of armed vehicle activity.

The US now accounted for 26 per cent of sales for BAE, compared with 38 per cent in the UK and 12 per cent in Saudi Arabia.