Depreciation

[Deleted User YDKXO]

I think that's probably more of the issue, as GBP fell sharply against euro, dollar and yen. I seem to recall that the resins and matting come mostly from China (RMB is pegged to the dollar), engines from Sweden/Germany/US, lots of mechanical stuff from Italy, and obviously lots of other stuff from outside the UK.

If materials are half the cost of a boat (no idea, that's just a guess), then a 20% average currency shift would account for half the increase Henryf mentions. You can also add steel and oil price rises, as lots of the materials for boats are either petrochemical or steel based.

Accept all that but my original point was that manufacturers should have been able to find efficiency savings in that period as well which would have offset those material cost rises. For example, we noticed at LIBS that manufacturers are standardising an increasing number of mouldings and components across their range of boats which can only be for cost reasons. I just think UK builders have ramped up their prices a bit whilst the £ is low although that doesn't seem to be showing in their P/L accounts

 

[mjf]

Obviously sun/fair/prin are selling boats but I often wonder at their margins these days.

no prizes

 

[gjgm]

Obviously sun/fair/prin are selling boats but I often wonder at their margins these days.

no prizes

Mind you, S/S, Fairline/Sealine do seem to have all been through some ahhhh restructuring, so sounds as if it isnt all that easy.