A luxury yacht builder in Auckland says it could lose 120 jobs by Christmas.
Alloy Yachts said today that the high New Zealand dollar and a worldwide drop in contracts meant 60 jobs would go in the next few weeks and that could double by the end of the year if it did not win another contract.
Managing director Tony Hambrook said all its customers are based either in Europe or the east coast of the United States.
Mr Hambrook said when they convert quotes to build new yachts back into their own currency, the New Zealand dollar does not do very well.
However, he said he was confident the company would secure another super-yacht contract soon and re-employ many of the workers in the next six months.
