Viking Sets Sail With Luxury Yacht Fitout Company Fmca

Sydney, April 1, 2006 (ABN Newswire) - Hi, I’m Robert Falzon, and I’m the Managing Director and founder of FMCA, Furniture Manufacturing Company of Australia, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Viking Industries.

This project that I’m sitting in at the moment is motor yacht Seafaris, and this is a 41-metre luxury high-speed privately owned vessel. This vessel was brought to Queensland specifically for FMCA to fit it out. What FMCA is and what we do is since 1985 have been traditionally furniture manufacturers, fitting out five-star hotels, luxury yachts and private residences. We’re about 100 staff and numerous contractors in the supply chain, all of which are Australian.

We have just moved into a purpose-built facility, 5 and a half thousand square metres of purpose-built facility in the Brisbane Marine Industry Park in Hemmant. FMCA has moved here to participate in the marine park, and be specifically located near the infrastructure that services our luxury yacht market, which includes a 300 tonne travel lift, sheds, one of which this yacht is housed in, hard stands, and many marine services which assist us in our endeavours.

The future of FMCA lies in our global march, or the penetration into the international market, and the lucrative projects and lucrative clients that are over there. Let me give you an example. This project is 41 metres. It’s a super-project for Australia, an extremely high-end, world-class luxury yacht, but we’re tendering on projects and tendering in arenas in the world market where the yachts are 100 metres, and instead of the build dollars being say like 30 million Australian, they’re in the vicinity of 80 to 100 million euros, and the percentages in proportion of the interior contract are relative.

You might be interested to know that FMCA in this region of the world, is the only company of its kind. In fact, in Southeast Asia, FMCA is unique. In the world market we are in the top ten. Someone was telling me the other day that we’re probably number seven in the global market, and when you think of the global market growing at 28 percent per annum, that’s extraordinary. It’s an extraordinary opportunity, and an extraordinary potential for Viking Industries.