Duratec jumps +10% as early works kick off for AUKUS base refurbishment

Duratec (ASX:DUR) has jumped over +10% in Thursday trades as the Australian company revealed this morning it’s been greenlit to kick off procurement early for $5 million worth of materials to upgrade the Department of Defence (DoD) HMAS Stirling base on Garden Island located south of Perth.

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Garden Island is, for all intents and purposes, a major hub as part of the AUKUS submarine program; this journalist can also attest to the surrounding waters, Point Peron, being quite a good place to go snorkelling. That’s neither here nor there.

Duratec’s procurement run will kick off as part of a JV between itself and another entity called Ertech, split 50/50. According to Duratec, there could be more orders for early-start works between now and the commencement of the project in Q3 of FY26 – in other words, the first three months of CY26.

Early start works make sense, given that Garden Island is meant to be supporting U.K. and U.S. forces on rotation from late calendar year 2027, a key element to the controversial (depending on who you ask) AUKUS project.

“The early procurement of long lead items is strong validation of Duratec’s critical involvement at HMAS Stirling and its broader partnership with the Department of Defence,” DUR MD Chris Oates said.

“We look forward to continuing our long-standing relationship with Defence to ensure the timely and compliant delivery of these strategically important facilities.”

If anything, Duratec’s Thursday news underscores that the defence thematic borne initially from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine hasn’t gone anywhere.

To date, 1Y returns for DUR shareholders are up +50% – not quite as sensational as DroneShield or EOS, but perhaps proof a stock doesn’t need to be a retail darling to ink gains for defence investors.

DUR last traded at $2.06/sh today.

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