Broom's

It is indeed sad news.

Unfortunately companies like boatbuilders and caravan/motorhome builders often seem to be the first to suffer when there is an economic downturn.
 
really Sad to see a Family business with no one to take it over, lets hope the new owners have the cash and respect to keep a great mark alive. Feeling for those who have lost their jobs. A question is it actually possible to make a profit building boats in the UK or is it another Industry lost forever to this Country of ours?
 
I had a Birchwood once, and they went bust, now the Broom...

I might have to buy a Pedro just to spite Boatone...or am I too late!

Seriously though, I'm astonished! One of the greatest names sold down the river (no pun) for no sane reason.
I'm sure Broom will reappear in another form, perhaps smaller or maybe be bought out by another company, as their boats are really quite special.
 
investors are in and have bought the company, Norfolk based so hopefulyy sympathetic to the tradition. However at the end of the day it is a business and with only 6 boats built last year ? something was going to give, Marina side , maintenance and fuel side is profitable and in the parent company, boat building was it seems in a subsidiary that lost money for three years, either the market is too small or crowded or the costs to produce here are prohibitive.
 
No Regrets said:
Seriously though, I'm astonished! One of the greatest names sold down the river (no pun) for no sane reason
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I'm surprised, and sorry too. But the 'sane reason' would seem to be that they only built six boats last year ie lack of demand. Brooms have been too slow in updating their product line.
 
"Seriously though, I'm astonished! One of the greatest names sold down the river (no pun) for no sane reason."

Just some thoughts.Broom have lost a market because the only people who bought them were a very small percentage of boat buyers who valued what Broom offered(at a price) solid conservative boats bought by people probably at the end of their boating lives with a few quid to spend on a bespoke boat. .
New entrants with any real money want look at me bling and a mountain of curves for their dough and not to fussy about some decent bollards and plenty of them.Fairline please note.
Once again Brooms entry boat to get buyers in at the bottom was how much.
Whatever you think about Sealine,their base get you an message tiddler is affordable.
For about every flavour of boat you will see on the river,the builders went bust as they went up market pulling up the ladder behind them.
Wonder exactly how big those last 6 boats where ? IMHO
 
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good points and as I said a business (and it was and is) has to make profit. I am still very tempted to buy a broom when I am as old as no regrets and yes an old one and love the little broom speed boats. The SC35 is an amazing design hated by some loved by me and one day just one day :-)
 
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Very sad indeed, but a quick look at their accounts tells all, a loss of £500k to November 2009 and over £700k the year before. It looks like the parent company, Broom Boats Ltd, was supporting the company, but that can go on only for so long.

I sent my Broom up to them last year for some work on the hull. It seems that this sort of work was largely what was keeping the workforce employed. There did not seem to be much boatbuilding going on except for some Oyster Yachts being built under licence.

Brooms are great boats with a reputation for quality, even if they are seen as a bit old fashioned, but there are plenty of other manufacturers producing similar boats for a lower price. The auditors report talks about pressure on margins continuing to effect profitability and who can predict when that is likely to change?

It is not clear whether they have actually appointed Administrators, nothing filed yet at Companies House, but with the redundancy costs they must be facing commercially that would make sense so the government can pick up that bill. It will be interesting to see what the outcome is.
 
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