Alubat shipyard (Ovni, Cigale..) into receivership/administration

[Roberto]

Alubat, the maker of Ovnis and Cigale aluminium boats, has been put into receivership/administration.

Not sure what is the correct term in English as French law is different from Anglosaxon, anyway the Court has named a person who is in charge of managing the debt situation, find new financing/investors, etc during a period of two months.
After these two months, if the business remains unviable it will be put into liquidation.


http://www.infofaillite.fr/fr/actua....aspx?utm_medium=email&utm_medium=nieuwsflits

 

[jamesjermain]

That's a great pity. They offered a much needed element of variety in an increasingly homogeneous market and there should be a sound business in alloy boats given the advantages.

I think the French system is similar to America's Chapter 11 in which a company has a period of time in which it is protected from its creditors while attempting to restructure/refinance and, hopefully, become viable again.

 

[Blueboatman]

I have today received newsletter of Rustler Yachts plans which look great and include building larger in aluminium, driven by customer request and, importantly, building big ally only to contract!
British 'local' company, with apprentice schemes, a good employer to work for, building to quality rather than volume..
Nice to read good marine industry news eh?

I agree Ovni etc are intelligent ' proper' cruising boats with good niche demand. As they say, the rest is details!

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

I have today received newsletter of Rustler Yachts plans which look great and include building larger in aluminium, driven by customer request and, importantly, building big ally only to contract!
British 'local' company, with apprentice schemes, a good employer to work for, building to quality rather than volume..
Nice to read good marine industry news eh?

I agree Ovni etc are intelligent ' proper' cruising boats with good niche demand. As they say, the rest is details!

Yes, I saw the Rustler news as well. You can read it here.
http://www.rustleryachts.com/rustler-news/august-2013-newsletter

Nice to see the new 37 is actually in production.

 

[Seajet]

Ovni's being rather good boats, it would be a great shame if they went; hope they sort it out.

 

[Daydream believer]

Yes, I saw the Rustler news as well. You can read it here.
http://www.rustleryachts.com/rustler-news/august-2013-newsletter

Nice to see the new 37 is actually in production.

So basically they are saying that they would love to build some bigger boats but nobody want one
Hmmm!!
Are they selling anything??
Apart from one 37 ft that is

 

[Sybarite]

That's a great pity. They offered a much needed element of variety in an increasingly homogeneous market and there should be a sound business in alloy boats given the advantages.

I think the French system is similar to America's Chapter 11 in which a company has a period of time in which it is protected from its creditors while attempting to restructure/refinance and, hopefully, become viable again.

http://europa.eu/youreurope/busines...uptcy-and-starting-afresh/france/index_en.htm

It's a pity that some builders of beautiful boats are less competent when organizing their businesses. I remember the original Dufour company which went bankrupt had a break-even point which was 98% of its capacity.

One of the reasons why Bénéteau did so well was that the boss, Annette Roux, had a financial background.

 

[FullCircle]

Ovni - the only boat I would call Full Circle II. A 365 or 395 would have done.

Hope they get back sorted without resorting to Southerly style resurrection techniques.

 

[Pinnacle]

Hope they get back sorted without resorting to Southerly style resurrection techniques.

Aka Dickies style.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

I have today received newsletter of Rustler Yachts plans which look great and include building larger in aluminium, driven by customer request and, importantly, building big ally only to contract!
British 'local' company, with apprentice schemes, a good employer to work for, building to quality rather than volume..
Nice to read good marine industry news eh?

I wouldnt see it as good news. Instead of slowly and steadily building up a coherent range of boats using common facilities and getting economies of scale they are bitting and batting about the market with aluminium, grp, sail and motor yachts plus day boats. They have a 36 ft boat and a 37 ft boat - why?

The sensible strategy would have been for them to develop along the lines they were doing with the 42 but adding a shoal draft maybe even bilge keel version of each boat - there is a wide open market there with no one supplying in the UK unless you consider Legend to be yachts.

 

[sailorman]

I wouldnt see it as good news. Instead of slowly and steadily building up a coherent range of boats using common facilities and getting economies of scale they are bitting and batting about the market with aluminium, grp, sail and motor yachts plus day boats. They have a 36 ft boat and a 37 ft boat - why?

The sensible strategy would have been for them to develop along the lines they were doing with the 42 but adding a shoal draft maybe even bilge keel version of each boat - there is a wide open market there with no one supplying in the UK unless you consider Legend to be yachts.

The all new Gunfleet 58 is @ SIBS complete with lifting keel & twin rudders

 

[Blueboatman]

Why are your posts so relentlessly depressing, down beat and , this one is ill-informed as well? Your moan about Apple OS X adblocking not working on PC made I larff too, thay was a good 'un!
Perhaps turn the telescope round matey. No polite way of saying that really is there? And it would miss.
Goodness me!

Southerly went your way and built expensive molds.
The R44 is an extension of the 42
Alubat offer shoal draft as do, er Southerly
Aluminium is excellent for one offs.

The R37 is an updated 36 with Starlight bits underwater. And aft cabin and such like, if you look at their site its all there!
I take it you don't use the Rustler yard for your boat. A shame, perhaps. As an ex CEO and early retiree I am sure you too could recognise switched on management and proven ability, just as I can from having worked with my hands all my life. Now, why am I happy and you not?

I wouldnt see it as good news. Instead of slowly and steadily building up a coherent range of boats using common facilities and getting economies of scale they are bitting and batting about the market with aluminium, grp, sail and motor yachts plus day boats. They have a 36 ft boat and a 37 ft boat - why?

The sensible strategy would have been for them to develop along the lines they were doing with the 42 but adding a shoal draft maybe even bilge keel version of each boat - there is a wide open market there with no one supplying in the UK unless you consider Legend to be yachts.

 

[doris]

Never in living memory

Never in living memory has the spread between new boats and recent good second hand boats been so wide. There are plenty of examples where a fully sorted and de-snagged boat, 4-5 years old can be bought for half the price of a similar equipped new model. The question is, which side of the spread will move? Will new get cheaper or 2nd hand rise in value? Neither seems likely.

Why people buy new in the current market is a mystery.

Looking at lower volume builders how can they compete? Look at the bust list; Nayad, Sweden, Maxi, Etap, Dehler, Grand Soleil, Southerly plus assorted others. Rustler rose, Phoenix like from the ashes of bankruptcy like the 'new' Northshore.

I certainly know of several examples of owners selling Swans and buy similar sized Hanses for a fraction of the money, getting the same deck gear, a more reliable boat and better accommodation. In the car industry huge volume is the only way to survive in the mainstream market. Boat manufacturing is no different. Look at the HR advert on the back page of the latest comic. No mention of any boat model, all about the financial viability of the company.

The financial system of buying a boat does not seem to have evolved at all over the recent financial meltdown, quite amazing. It shows the intransigence of the whole industry.

On another point: Annette Roux who built Benateau into the global operation it is today was a brilliant mover and shaker in the corridors of power in France. She procured tax breaks for Benny buyers that were totally illegal under the Treaty of Rome but so what, it was a French company in France. Well done her. This was in addition to actually modernising all the processes within the company. All sorts of governmental help enabled her to rescue Jeneau and generate colossal economies of scale across a huge range. A proper CEO, will be interesting to see how the Benateau, Bavaria, Hanse, Hunter Marine competition plays out over the next few years.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Never in living memory has the spread between new boats and recent good second hand boats been so wide. There are plenty of examples where a fully sorted and de-snagged boat, 4-5 years old can be bought for half the price of a similar equipped new model.

The sailing boat world seems to be going more like the motor boat world (which is not unlike the car world) with a significant number of buyers willing and able to buy a new boat every couple of years to get the latest porthole shape, the latest number of hull ports (two is soooooooo 2011) or the latest instrument pod / cockpit table / flogging rack combination. It remains to be seen whether indifferent boats sold almost wholly on trendy styling features will maintain their value.

 

[Sybarite]

Never in living memory has the spread between new boats and recent good second hand boats been so wide. There are plenty of examples where a fully sorted and de-snagged boat, 4-5 years old can be bought for half the price of a similar equipped new model. The question is, which side of the spread will move? Will new get cheaper or 2nd hand rise in value? Neither seems likely.

Why people buy new in the current market is a mystery.

Looking at lower volume builders how can they compete? Look at the bust list; Nayad, Sweden, Maxi, Etap, Dehler, Grand Soleil, Southerly plus assorted others. Rustler rose, Phoenix like from the ashes of bankruptcy like the 'new' Northshore.

I certainly know of several examples of owners selling Swans and buy similar sized Hanses for a fraction of the money, getting the same deck gear, a more reliable boat and better accommodation. In the car industry huge volume is the only way to survive in the mainstream market. Boat manufacturing is no different. Look at the HR advert on the back page of the latest comic. No mention of any boat model, all about the financial viability of the company.

The financial system of buying a boat does not seem to have evolved at all over the recent financial meltdown, quite amazing. It shows the intransigence of the whole industry.

On another point: Annette Roux who built Benateau into the global operation it is today was a brilliant mover and shaker in the corridors of power in France. She procured tax breaks for Benny buyers that were totally illegal under the Treaty of Rome but so what, it was a French company in France. Well done her. This was in addition to actually modernising all the processes within the company. All sorts of governmental help enabled her to rescue Jeneau and generate colossal economies of scale across a huge range. A proper CEO, will be interesting to see how the Benateau, Bavaria, Hanse, Hunter Marine competition plays out over the next few years.

“She procured tax breaks for Benny buyers that were totally illegal under the Treaty of Rome”

She militated for the maintenance of measures introduced by the Socialist Minister of Finance, Pierre Beregovoy, concerning the development of tourism in overseas departments and territories. Investors in assets (hotels, tourist resorts, charter boats) based in these areas were allowed to write off the total costs over a certain number of years; ie you could deduct the cost of the boat in addition to deducting depreciation over the period. Thus 100% of the cost picked up by the tax man.

The advantage was that you could recover a boat after (IIRC) 7 years which, if you were a large tax-payer, hadn’t cost you anything.

There was a second scheme which was assimilated to hotels (ie ...manned charter yachts) which could be set up in tax transparent structures (called quirats : the equivalent of sociétés en nom collectif) where a loss-making charter operation could be set off against the other income of the participating members. This was a general provision of tax law not specifically relating to boats or their location.

Neither of these measures were just for Benny owners nor did they contravene the Treaty of Rome.

“All sorts of governmental help enabled her to rescue Jeneau”

I would be interested to see which!

When Jeanneau was in administration three companies presented offers: Bénéteau, Zodiac and Dufour.

Their offers were all within a range of 10MF ie 30-40MF for the asset value (which had been independently valued at around 120MF just before the bankruptcy); plus an increase of capital of 50MF and the opening of a credit line of 100MF. They also guaranteed saving between 550-590 of the existing 660 work force.

Bénéteau carried the day with a bank guarantee of 110MF (from the Crédit Lyonnais) plus an undertaking to repatriate the part of Jeanneau’s production which had been delocalized to Poland.

Crédit Lyonnais was still a nationalized bank at that time but that is about the extent of state intervention. Bénéteau was considered the best candidate to maintain employment.

She was however a good boss (LT VP of the employers' confederation). In roughly 2 - 3 decades the company went from 18 employees to a 5000+ group. In addition to France they have built over 5000 boats in their US factory.

The turning point for the group was the First 30.

 

[Sailfree]

“She procured tax breaks for Benny buyers that were totally illegal under the Treaty of Rome”

She militated for the maintenance of measures introduced by the Socialist Minister of Finance, Pierre Beregovoy, concerning the development of tourism in overseas departments and territories. Investors in assets (hotels, tourist resorts, charter boats) based in these areas were allowed to write off the total costs over a certain number of years; ie you could deduct the cost of the boat in addition to deducting depreciation over the period. Thus 100% of the cost picked up by the tax man.

The advantage was that you could recover a boat after (IIRC) 7 years which, if you were a large tax-payer, hadn’t cost you anything.

There was a second scheme which was assimilated to hotels (ie ...manned charter yachts) which could be set up in tax transparent structures (called quirats : the equivalent of sociétés en nom collectif) where a loss-making charter operation could be set off against the other income of the participating members. This was a general provision of tax law not specifically relating to boats or their location.

Neither of these measures were just for Benny owners nor did they contravene the Treaty of Rome.

“All sorts of governmental help enabled her to rescue Jeneau”

I would be interested to see which!

When Jeanneau was in administration three companies presented offers: Bénéteau, Zodiac and Dufour.

Their offers were all within a range of 10MF ie 30-40MF for the asset value (which had been independently valued at around 120MF just before the bankruptcy); plus an increase of capital of 50MF and the opening of a credit line of 100MF. They also guaranteed saving between 550-590 of the existing 660 work force.

Bénéteau carried the day with a bank guarantee of 110MF (from the Crédit Lyonnais) plus an undertaking to repatriate the part of Jeanneau’s production which had been delocalized to Poland.

Crédit Lyonnais was still a nationalized bank at that time but that is about the extent of state intervention. Bénéteau was considered the best candidate to maintain employment.

She was however a good boss (LT VP of the employers' confederation). In roughly 2 - 3 decades the company went from 18 employees to a 5000+ group. In addition to France they have built over 5000 boats in their US factory.

The turning point for the group was the First 30.

Wish the UK government made same efforts for UK businesses. IMHO the French have a number of things right hence their growth in acquiring UK utility businesses. Solid profit even if not spectacular.

 

[Tranona]

“She procured tax breaks for Benny buyers that were totally illegal under the Treaty of Rome”

She militated for the maintenance of measures introduced by the Socialist Minister of Finance, Pierre Beregovoy, concerning the development of tourism in overseas departments and territories. Investors in assets (hotels, tourist resorts, charter boats) based in these areas were allowed to write off the total costs over a certain number of years; ie you could deduct the cost of the boat in addition to deducting depreciation over the period. Thus 100% of the cost picked up by the tax man.

The advantage was that you could recover a boat after (IIRC) 7 years which, if you were a large tax-payer, hadn’t cost you anything.

There was a second scheme which was assimilated to hotels (ie ...manned charter yachts) which could be set up in tax transparent structures (called quirats : the equivalent of sociétés en nom collectif) where a loss-making charter operation could be set off against the other income of the participating members. This was a general provision of tax law not specifically relating to boats or their location.

Neither of these measures were just for Benny owners nor did they contravene the Treaty of Rome.

That is being very economical with the truth. While it was not just for Benny owners, it was only applicable to FRENCH BUILT boats and also applied to boats used in other developing territories. Individuals could buy the boats and offset the cost against tax. No need ever to see the boat. Collect the tax credit, and then get the value of the boat at the end of the 6 year contract. That is the basis of the bareboat charter business in both the Med and Caribbean and enabled Benny in particular to dominate the market, giving it volume and funds to develop new products, plus an endless supply of used boats at attractive prices. If ever there was a case of blatant state aid that was it - and no longer legal. Similar subsidies in other countries - Greece for example allowed charter boats to be sold at the end of the contract without VAT until stopped by the EU. Intended initially to help support the Greek boat building industry, but unfortunately back fired when they stopped non Greeks running charter businesses and the new boat market collapsed. When it picked up again - guess what, Bennys and Bavaria dominated the market.

 

[Koeketiene]

That's a great pity. They offered a much needed element of variety in an increasingly homogeneous market

+1

 

[Sailfree]

That is being very economical with the truth. While it was not just for Benny owners, it was only applicable to FRENCH BUILT boats and also applied to boats used in other developing territories. Individuals could buy the boats and offset the cost against tax. No need ever to see the boat. Collect the tax credit, and then get the value of the boat at the end of the 6 year contract. That is the basis of the bareboat charter business in both the Med and Caribbean and enabled Benny in particular to dominate the market, giving it volume and funds to develop new products, plus an endless supply of used boats at attractive prices. If ever there was a case of blatant state aid that was it - and no longer legal. Similar subsidies in other countries - Greece for example allowed charter boats to be sold at the end of the contract without VAT until stopped by the EU. Intended initially to help support the Greek boat building industry, but unfortunately back fired when they stopped non Greeks running charter businesses and the new boat market collapsed. When it picked up again - guess what, Bennys and Bavaria dominated the market.

Whatever it was its the opposite to the UK tax authorities approach. They no longer allow tax relief on depreciation if its considered an "asset" rather than a "service". No UK person with any sense would buy a boat to put it into charter now. We had already started but would never do it again.

 

[boguing]

During the early expansion of Benetau up until the mid 80s, French yards all got interest free loans for stock financing, and that is one thing that really hurts a boat-builder. Plan a steady production rate for the year, but only get final payments coming from late March until October. The special area financing didn't happen until late 80s, well after they had finished the massive expansion.