OREANDA-NEWS  The United Shipbuilding Company (USC), which recently came under the control of VTB, according to the results of the audit, found many problems, the main of which was a "huge financial hole". This was stated in an interview with RBC by the head of the bank Andrey Kostin, who was elected chairman of the board of directors of the company.

According to him, the deep technological lag, especially in civil shipbuilding, and weak corporate governance are also alarming. Kostin admitted that almost all of USC's state contracts with customers turned out to be unprofitable.

The whole industry, the banker said, is "being sucked by the state." At the same time, there is no single reliable financial statements. To assess the situation, we have to look at the efficiency not just for each enterprise, but for each vessel. The new owners have six months to analyze the financial statements of USC.

Earlier, the new head of USC, former VTB deputy chairman Andrey Puchkov, pointed out that the previous management of the company was not effective. He called the cause of the problems excessive trust in foreign manufacturers, which led to the lack of many competencies in the country. As an example, he cited the construction of engines that Russia does not have.

Kostin believes that the bank is not able to cope with the financial problems of the company alone. According to him, in five to seven years, from 500 billion to a trillion rubles should be invested in the shipbuilding industry, while the state should close the old financial holes. As the banker pointed out, even the "not very generous Ministry of Finance" agrees that some money will have to be allocated, VTB alone will not be able to finance shipbuilding.