Declining shipyard Swan Hunter managed to generate more than £3m profit just months before closure, new figures have revealed.

The iconic Tyneside yard saw its last ever ship, the Lyme Bay, towed away unfinished to the rival BAE yard in Govan in Glasgow last July.

And yet its accounts for the year to February 28 last year show Swan Hunter (Tyneside) Limited generated pre-tax profits of £3.2m on sales of nearly £70m.

Owner Jaap Kroese said this profit had not come through his company's work for the Ministry of Defence but through other work, which he would not specify.

Also, the accounts show the company still had £18.7m owed to it last February for contracts it had worked on - with the majority presumed to be owed by the MoD.

But Mr Kroese said yesterday he has now received a final payment from the ministry, though it was not the full amount owed.

Mr Kroese said a total of £29m had been invested in Swan Hunter in the period he had been in charge, and he had only ever got £11m back.

The cost of the RFA Lyme Bay, along with its sister ship, the RFA Largs Bay, was controversial.

Questions were asked in Parliament over the spiralling costs of the vessels - and the contrast between Swans' performance and that of BAE Systems in Scotland, which built similar ships for less.

At one point, official figures showed Swans had been paid £309m for its contribution, while BAE received just £176m for a similar amount of work. Mr Kroese said the payment from the MoD for the last of the Largs Bay and Lyme Bay work would be the last Swans would receive - though it did not account for the full £18.7m owed on last year's accounts.

He said: "I don't think we will get anything more out of the MoD. We have had a full and final settlement from them - our last money on the contract.

"That [the figure in the accounts] was something we still wanted off the MoD at the time. We got part of it, though we were not paid in full. We just had to swallow what they offered us."

The Ministry of Defence did not comment.

The report also showed the falling value of the yard.

With the company no longer operating, and the cranes and equipment sold, its value is now listed as just £2.5m, down from over £10m the year before.

However, a report from surveyors Crass & Co said the "the extensive river frontage is obviously a significant benefit in respect of any future development plans which may be confirmed in the future".

Mr Kroese said: "It's only worth what people want to give you for it - or what the banks will give you for it.

"When we took over 11 years ago, the yard was listed in the company's books at £120m. But now you can't use it as a shipyard or as a construction yard. There is shipbuilding work in the world, but nobody wants to build ships in the UK."