Fairline - any news?

petem said:
Yep, and I suspect Princess will be asking themselves if they can consolidate accommodation to save money.
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P, don't be an English lobster! :p
In your boots (or those of anyone attached to FL brand, for that matter), I would rather wish the very best of success to Princess, to the point of being able and willing to take over what's left of FL.
Could you realistically think of a better outcome for them?

Besides, even if P would do the same thing tomorrow, I still wouldn't call it "taking the lead" from FL, as you said they did with the boat shows... ;)
 
And starting to keep there employees involved I'm led to believe would be a start i would guess? If information received is correct.
 
Boatingboy said:
And starting to keep there employees involved I'm led to believe would be a start i would guess? If information received is correct.
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I don't think that wb have any interest in employees being onside or otherwise...I think it's a predefined conclusion..end game.
 
MapisM said:
P, don't be an English lobster! :p
In your boots (or those of anyone attached to FL brand, for that matter), I would rather wish the very best of success to Princess, to the point of being able and willing to take over what's left of FL.
Could you realistically think of a better outcome for them?
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The best outcome for Fairline would be to slash costs and downsize so that they can make a modest profit and invest in new models. As per my previous post, I'm not optimistic this can be done until I see a credible plan and a source of funding.

MapisM said:
Besides, even if P would do the same thing tomorrow, I still wouldn't call it "taking the lead" from FL, as you said they did with the boat shows... ;)
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I had my 'tongue in cheek' with that comment but I'm pleased that you're paying attention P ;). Despite that I don't think its inconceivable that in the past, the other two builders (e.g. Sealine / Princess) considered pulling out of LIBS but were scared to do some in case the builders that were attending the show swept up their orders.
 
petem said:
The best outcome for Fairline would be to slash costs and downsize
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Well, I guess we must agree to disagree on that.
In fact, it's far from being a strategy not tried before by other yards - I don't think both hands would be enough to count those that I have in mind in IT alone.
But I've never seen it working, I'm afraid. Not in this business, at least.
Otoh, I can predict anything but the future - good luck to them.
 
MapisM said:
Well, I guess we must agree to disagree on that.
In fact, it's far from being a strategy not tried before by other yards - I don't think both hands would be enough to count those that I have in mind in IT alone.
But I've never seen it working, I'm afraid. Not in this business, at least.
Otoh, I can predict anything but the future - good luck to them.
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Are there any surviving small manufacturers in IT? Looks like Colombo are still going and making beautiful boats from 25-40ft. Are they still in private hands and profitable? Others?
 
petem said:
How can an MP help? If I was the new owner I'd be focussing on more practical things and keeping my supplier / staff / dealers / customers informed.
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Well first of all, if a company owner genuinely cared about the staff they'd just made redundant they'd explore all avenues to help find them alternative employment. Second, if that owner really had in mind resurrecting the company as a going concern, it would be good PR to have attended that meeting and cosied up to the local MP. You never know when you might need his support in the future
 
petem said:
Unfortunately due to the office move my visit has been postponed for a week so we'll all have to be a little more patient.
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I do hope it actually happens but I'm not convinced it will happen.

If it does happen you may need to take your own Thermos of coffee.......
 
jrudge said:
Agree entirely but I am not sure what assets they actually have other than ip and the mounds. All kit will be on finance I suspect and building get were sold a long time ago
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Yup I don't doubt that but a company thats been in business as long as Fairline will have a load of small assets which it owns outright like cars, vans, machine tools, office furniture, manufacturing stock, spares stock etc which can all be auctioned off piecemeal and probably realise a few tens of thousands of quid or more. Then there may be half finished boats which can be sold and there there is the Fairline brand itself which I guess is trademarked and could be a worth a few bob to another boat manufacturer who fancies making boats under the Fairline brand name.

This kind of thing seems to be WB's stock in trade so they will know exactly how to do this. Not forgetting also that they seem to have bought Fairline for bugger all so anything they can get is a bonus
 
I do believe wb have not invested anything yet until they have a "head count" that they are happy with..maybe I'm a sceptic but I guess they want good old Mr tax payer to have that cost..nice people.
 
Deleted User said:
Not forgetting also that they seem to have bought Fairline for bugger all so anything they can get is a bonus
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Which is part of the problem, if you think about it.
In fact, that only remains true till they don't have to invest some fresh money to keep the business running.
Now, THAT will be the proof of the pudding, with regard to the new ownership commitment.
 
MapisM said:
I'm afraid it's actually one of those yards for which the fingers of both hands are not enough to count them, P... :(
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Jeez, all we could be let with one day is Jeanneau and Beneteau or are they running at a loss too?

Do Aquastar and Fleming make a profit I wonder?

Maybe the only solution is to start from a clean sheet like English Harbour.
 
The difference between the big boys and the small companies is that the big boys are owned by people that just don't get it...people aren't just buying a boat they are fulfilling a dream...the big boys just want max profit..we have all seen what happens when you try to turn a boat yard into "Rover".(mr. M. Wanted that to).you can't throw together a boat and call it bespoke, hand built..buyers,,customers walk away..English Harbour and yards of that type care and it shows.
 
petem said:
Jeez, all we could be let with one day is Jeanneau and Beneteau or are they running at a loss too?

Do Aquastar and Fleming make a profit I wonder?

Maybe the only solution is to start from a clean sheet like English Harbour.
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I think the big problem is unlike other products you just can't get enough volume to really benefit from large scale production savings.

I don't know what the solution is - but I'm not convinced it's EHY. Have they actually sold any boats?
 
In fact, that only remains true till they don't have to invest some fresh money to keep the business running.
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As I say WB seem to know how to do this kind of thing so I'm sure they've worked out that the value of any saleable assets exceeds the cost of keeping the company going until they can close it
 
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