Brunswick to sell Sea Ray

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Interesting to read that the sale will improve Brunswick's margin and that they refer to the "evolving contribution the Say Ray brand made to the marine portfolio". Sea Ray has a strong following and has renewed/updated their line-up the last 2 years. Would be interesting to see where it will end up.
 
Without Sea Ray, Brunswick motor boat line up is worth nothing nowadays.
Bayliner is just a shadow of what it used to be. Maxum has been merged into Bayliner and Meridian in 2008 and has vanished since then (no trace of Maxum in recent Bayliners).
Meridian yachts has only two models today.

For me it seems they want to move out from boat building and are doing it in peaces for the next three to four years.
Wait for Aquador and Flipper (Brunswick will sell its minor interest here) and Bayliner and Meridian to be next.

If Sea Ray does not fit corporate Brunswick nothing else does.

Again another lesson that hedge funders and the like have no place in boat building whichever way you try to look at it.
 
Hanse seem to buy everything else, I bet they'll have a look.
Give them a route into the US with Sealine, perhaps some synergy with models and badge engineering - Sealine in Europe, Searay in the states.
 
Bouba said:
I don’t know if you can view this link without a subscription but it’s a very complete account of the Sea Ray situation
http://www.boattest.com/view-news/5617_sea-ray-boat-company-for-sale
Sea Ray was my first boat so I’ve a bit of a soft spot for them
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Thats a coincidence. Our first boat was a Searay as well, actually a 286 which we kept on the Thames, and we have a soft spot for Searay too

I think this bit from that link tells its own story

These two purchases made Brunswick Corp. the largest boat builder in the world. At the time, Sea Ray built boats from 14’ to 46’ and is said to have had annual sales of 28,000 units a year. Today, Sea Ray’s annual unit volume is about 10% of that number.
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Mine was a 175 bowrider
What surprised me was how much Brunswick paid for Sea Ray and Bayliner, $350m and $425m, in 1986
 
Deleted User said:
Thats a coincidence. Our first boat was a Searay as well, actually a 286 which we kept on the Thames, and we have a soft spot for Searay too

I think this bit from that link tells its own story
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So if Sea Ray only sells a tenth of their earlier volume, and Bayliner is not doing so great as suggested above, who "owns" the market of 20-25 sportsboats then nowadays? It used to be the Americans. We still have the likes of Chaparral, Monterey etc but I don't think they have the volume to replace Sea Ray? Can't imagine the US waters are now flooded with Cap Camarrats....
 
Coustea1 said:
So if Sea Ray only sells a tenth of their earlier volume, and Bayliner is not doing so great as suggested above, who "owns" the market of 20-25 sportsboats then nowadays? It used to be the Americans. We still have the likes of Chaparral, Monterey etc but I don't think they have the volume to replace Sea Ray? Can't imagine the US waters are now flooded with Cap Camarrats....
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We had this conversation the other week. We have had our 25ft Sealine for a long while, 10 years next year. The size suits us and we don't really need anything bigger. The Sealine is getting on a bit now. But if we wanted to replace it with something newer and of the same size with a diesel engine we would really be struggling.
 
Maybe there is no longer a mass market for small boats. Most builders are building bigger not more, this could account for Sea Rays drop in volume, they now do up to 65 feet. Bayliner, Glastron etc kept to the smaller boats, not going much over 30 feet. Brunswick made Sea Ray the premium brand while Bayliner was its budget mass market boat.
But there is a different market in the US to Europe, they have the small ‘lake’ boats where we really only have sea boats. And of course there is the invasion of European boats with their perceived Euro chic. But I would like to add nobody adds more luxury to a small boat like the Americans, the Euro small boats are very spartan in comparison
 
Bouba said:
Maybe there is no longer a mass market for small boats. Most builders are building bigger not more, this could account for Sea Rays drop in volume, they now do up to 65 feet. Bayliner, Glastron etc kept to the smaller boats, not going much over 30 feet. Brunswick made Sea Ray the premium brand while Bayliner was its budget mass market boat.
But there is a different market in the US to Europe, they have the small ‘lake’ boats where we really only have sea boats. And of course there is the invasion of European boats with their perceived Euro chic. But I would like to add nobody adds more luxury to a small boat like the Americans, the Euro small boats are very spartan in comparison
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By observation rather than statistical fact.

It seems clear that in the USA at least the number of new sterndrive boats has all but disappeared and that between 20 and 45-ish feet the USA has moved almost entirely to outboard-powered boats. This was where Sea Ray were so strong in the 90s and early years of the millennium imho.

I was really interested to see the 'new' Atlantis Verve is also outboard powered -- so I suspect that this is where the dayboat/weekender/centre console is 100% headed , in the USA at least.

Watching Jeanneau / Beneteau models will be very interesting over the next few years to see what they do.
 
EME said:
I was really interested to see the 'new' Atlantis Verve is also outboard powered -- so I suspect that this is where the dayboat/weekender/centre console is 100% headed , in the USA at least.
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Yup tend to agree. With outboards getting more powerful, cleaner and lighter and being cheaper to buy, install and service than sterndrives, outboards have to be eating into the sterndrive market. I also think that with the reaction against diesel particulates in certain markets and diesel costing the same as or more than petrol in some markets, petrol might start to make a comeback which can only help the outboard market too
 
The bubble burst for Sea Ray a while ago - operating at a loss I can't see that there will be too many potential buyers given the state of the market in the US. Sea Line have been through a similar fate a number of times but at least evolved under new ownership and started making boats of a reasonable quality and design.
 
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4130031-brunswick-bc-divest-sea-ray-slideshow

Above is the link to the `corporate rationale` behind the Brunswick decision of putting a former crown jewel up for sale.
Improving Shareholder value appears to be the key driver - no surprise there.

Improved profitability - Predictability - Reduced asset intensity... these are the Brunswick words.

My 2 cents analysis:
Profitability: Assembling appealing cruisers at a profit is tough, and sports boat even more so. Plus their main sales channel - US retailer MarineMax - is now offering highly competitive Galeons to compete with SeaRays, and Sailfish to compete with Boston Whaler...

Predictability: it's better to lean upon engines and related parts business, needed all year around the globe, and they fit in anything that floats...

Asset intensity: more complex boats mean higher content of purchased parts. Cash strapped in unsold inventory hits hard. Easier to make almost identical aluminium units units (pontoons!) in multibrand assembly plants.
 
DiscoVolante said:
The bubble burst for Sea Ray a while ago - operating at a loss I can't see that there will be too many potential buyers given the state of the market in the US. Sea Line have been through a similar fate a number of times but at least evolved under new ownership and started making boats of a reasonable quality and design.
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The market in the US is currently bigger then Europe, and the hurricanes of the fall has also fueled it more.
USA has been doing well since 2013/14, they have been out of the recession quicker then everyone else.

Mike F nails the problem in the head, that the outboard and center console market is insane and growing and eating shares from other sector at tremendous rate.
The problem with Sea Ray is that its main source of revenue is based on the 9-13 meter cruiser which the USA has decreased its interest in.
Add to this the problem of smaller organized competition (like Monterey or Larson) which can be easily adjusted to smaller production and there you have all the reply while a giant like Sea Ray managed in a very corporate and industrial way cannot get out of this hole.

These companies operate at a loss for a dozen of reasons and many times its not boat sales alone.
 
EME said:
It seems clear that in the USA at least the number of new sterndrive boats has all but disappeared and that between 20 and 45-ish feet the USA has moved almost entirely to outboard-powered boats.
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Bingo.

Brunswick had a business model of acquiring boat companies in order to bolt in their power units and while it still holds for outboards it's no longer viable with sterndrives and inboards. They've decided the retooling costs are better borne by someone else.

It speaks volumes when an old inboard stalwart like Formula has retooled around 4 stroke outboards.
 
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