Fairline layoffs again sadly

aviator

aviator

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www.richard-watts.com
http://www.northantset.co.uk/news/Fairline-in-Corby-and-Oundle.5783070.jp

Sounds like office staff but if so strange they were not made redundant earlier with the factory redundancies.

EDIT BY DAN FOLEY - I've been contacted by Fairline who are rightly concerned that this thread gives the impression that they are making redundancies now. In fact, this story broke and was discussed here and in the wider media in October last year so no news here.
 
Wellhaving recently visited their offices and production line I have to say that I thought it was all a bit over the top. There is a massive new reception building with 2 receptionists, all glass meeting rooms etc etc. Far too much for a company in a difficult market place. Yet the production line did seem to require some modern ideas on production techneques and better use of cnc equipment that would speed up and improve the quality. MInd you only my opinion as a production man, but perhaps all the glitz is still needed in this recesionary times.
 
hbp47 said:
Wellhaving recently visited their offices and production line I have to say that I thought it was all a bit over the top. There is a massive new reception building with 2 receptionists, all glass meeting rooms etc etc. Far too much for a company in a difficult market place. Yet the production line did seem to require some modern ideas on production techneques and better use of cnc equipment that would speed up and improve the quality. MInd you only my opinion as a production man, but perhaps all the glitz is still needed in this recesionary times.
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I've seen quite a few companies recently with fancy new glass 'n stainless steel offices which don't seem appropriate for these straitened times but the decision to spend the money and carry out the work was very likely taken 2/3 yrs ago when the market was very different and nobody dreamt that the recession would have been as bad as it is. I very nearly spent a lot of money tarting up my own business offices 2 yrs ago but luckily (if thats the right word) the recession started to bite before the design was finalised and I was able to pull the project. Anyway Fairline are very much in the luxury brand business so they have to present an appropriate image to their customers.
I guess the only organisations spending money on fancy new offices these days are in the public sector
 
Public sector or investment banks maybe!!

The offices are very much in keeping with the boat show image of Fairline and its rather difficult to deal with stance.

Take as an example to compare: Princess have good offices but not over the top.
Luckily for us too we saw this one coming about 2 years ago and battened down the hatches for our business.
 
PowerYachtBlog said:
they surely had a good 2009 year locally hepled by the weak pound which did make them cheap in the last year, but they did deliver nine new boats to the locals
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If they had a good year why are they making 89 people redundant? And yes the weak Pound should be helping them a lot but obviously the global boat market is still v bad. When/if the Pound rises, then the situation could get even worse for the UK boat building industry unless there is some miraculous improvement in the market
 
My guess is that Fairline are a bit more dependant on city bonus buyers than the other big three UK builders, as Princess seem to have more of the retiree market, Sunseeker have greater brand awareness internationally, and Sealine target the more value conscious.

It's just a hunch, I may be completely wrong, and I have no data to support the view.
 
aviator said:
considering 3i are the major investor I would be REALLY worried.
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Why do you say that Aviator?
My guess (and it's just a guess) is they have had a hard look at back office functions and cut some out to save further cost, over and above the production staff lay offs last year. In other words this isn't a reaction to some new low expected sales figures.

Note, Fairline have shown they are (cleverly) the first movers in taking this sort of medicine. In the last round of (production staff) layoffs, they announced layoffs early, and others like Princess (arguably not so cleverly) held on hoping for an upturn that didn't happen and announced their layoffs later. Ditto many other builders. So when you read that Fairline had laid people off and you dont read that others have done likewise, it doesn't mean Fairline are stuggling more than the others. It could (and did last time) mean they are making better management decisions
 
Deleted User I mean for Malta locally, they delivered nine new boats here two 55 Squadrons, two 52 Targa GT, two 38 Targa, one 47 Targa GT, one 48 Phantom, one 64 Targa GT

that is a very good run
Princess delivered three new boats a 62, 42 and a V53
Sunseeker delivered a 53 Portofino and 43 Superhawk and these where owned by Sunseeker Charter which setted up base in Malta this year
Sealine an SC35 and an SC28
Azimut sold a 62S and a 58

I am sure that a tiny island like Malta with 400000 persons cannot make a full global perspective to Fairline and these builders, but I just pointed out that over here they are sold a few. I think for cash this is the best year Fairline had so far in Malta
 
Nick_H said:
My guess is that Fairline are a bit more dependant on city bonus buyers than the other big three UK builders, as Princess seem to have more of the retiree market, Sunseeker have greater brand awareness internationally, and Sealine target the more value conscious.

It's just a hunch, I may be completely wrong, and I have no data to support the view.
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Certainly Sunseeker have the widest global brand awareness compared to the other 3 so you would think they would be in the best position to profit from Sterling's weakness. I'd be surprised if there was much difference between the profiles of the average Fairline and Princess buyer so I would have thought that each company is similarly placed. I don't know whether city bonuses are a big factor in boat sales. I talked to a dealer for various glitzy makes of Italian sports cruisers a couple of years ago at LIBS. Prime territory for city boys with bonuses burning a hole in their pockets you would think but apparently not. The dealer told me that he saw little or no uplift in sales come bonus time and that buyers of even flash Italian sports cruisers were still generally experienced boaters from all sorts of walks of life rather city wideboys
 
jfm said:
Why do you say that Aviator?
My guess (and it's just a guess) is they have had a hard look at back office functions and cut some out to save further cost, over and above the production staff lay offs last year. In other words this isn't a reaction to some new low expected sales figures.

Note, Fairline have shown they are (cleverly) the first movers in taking this sort of medicine. In the last round of (production staff) layoffs, they announced layoffs early, and others like Princess (arguably not so cleverly) held on hoping for an upturn that didn't happen and announced their layoffs later. Ditto many other builders. So when you read that Fairline had laid people off and you dont read that others have done likewise, it doesn't mean Fairline are stuggling more than the others. It could (and did last time) mean they are making better management decisions
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Sorry jfm, I know you may know more about this than others. I don't think anyone is suggesting that Fairline are suffering more than others but to somehow suggest that Fairline have handled their redundancies more cleverly than others doesn't ring true. My observation of my own suppliers and customers is that they fall roughly into two types. The first type predicted the severity of the recession and made early and deep cuts to their workforce in just one round of redundancies and told who was left that there would be no more cuts unless the market changed again dramatically. In those companies, workforce morale remains high. Then there is the other type of company who are making successive rounds of redundancies as they slowly realise that the market is not going to return to what was. Those companies of course have carried additional uneccessary costs for many months and have a demoralised workforce who don't know when the next round of cuts will come and whether they'll be one of the unlucky ones.
So, as far as I'm aware, Fairline have had 3 rounds of redundancies over 14 months or so. Thats not clever for the reasons I've given above. Back in Jan 2009, Mr Carter was predicting 'a return to normal trading in Q4 of 2009'. Er, if thats happened, why are they making 89 office staff redundant now? And if it's not happened, shouldn't somebody ask Mr Carter how he got it so wrong? And if it's just a normal restructuring exercise, why didn't they do it 12 months ago? Doesn't sound like good management to me and if I was a shareholder, I'd be asking some awkward questions
 
Fairline Layoffs

JFM said: 'Note, Fairline have shown they are (cleverly) the first movers in taking this sort of medicine.'

This is not quite my recollection - Sealine jumped first by halving production and making commensurate redundancies just after SIBS 08 and they followed this almost immediately by cutting Excel out of their marketing spend. Fairline, just like some of the others, held off until nearer Christmas if I recall correctly.
 
Yes Gandacle, well spoted - I do believe you are correct there. Looking further into a crystal ball I really wonder how many may pull out of Excel this year, or simply downsize and have a sensible affordable presence. These shows aint cheap. I know you have a lot of experience their Aviator with 3i. These things always seem to happen just before Christmas too!
 
PowerYachtBlog said:
Deleted User I mean for Malta locally, they delivered nine new boats here two 55 Squadrons, two 52 Targa GT, two 38 Targa, one 47 Targa GT, one 48 Phantom, one 64 Targa GT

that is a very good run
Princess delivered three new boats a 62, 42 and a V53
Sunseeker delivered a 53 Portofino and 43 Superhawk and these where owned by Sunseeker Charter which setted up base in Malta this year
Sealine an SC35 and an SC28
Azimut sold a 62S and a 58

I am sure that a tiny island like Malta with 400000 persons cannot make a full global perspective to Fairline and these builders, but I just pointed out that over here they are sold a few. I think for cash this is the best year Fairline had so far in Malta
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Thats a pretty impressive number of new boats PY for such a small population, was it more than SS feeding the charter fleet, or just a high concentration of wealth?
 
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When Malta saw the pound slide last year they went crazy. Now is become pretty normal so this year no one will see a record of much new boats.
Apart that the recession here feels worse then it was last year. Apparently it is the same in most of Europe this year. We are feeling the bite of Greece and other stressed nations, I think.
Boat companies cannot think that it will be back to normal so fast, altough fair to say some companies are doing well. I think Azimut, Ferretti Group, and Princess are performing extremely well considering the times.
 
Just to get something into perspective, I too have been to Fairline's office building and yes they were nice and had two receptionists (they were also answering all the incoming calls) but it is on an industrial estate in Oundle. I imagine that the Central London offices of some of the other manufacturers might be more expensive to run.

I believe that Fairline are in a good position in the UK due to Essex Boatyards. EBY make the whole experience so easy by offering a good part exchange scheme. I have twice turned up with my old boat, swapped over what seemed like a house full of kit and left the following day with a new boat - how easy is that.

On a recent visit to Lymington Yacht Haven, I was amazed at the number of new Fairlines supplied by EBY - I suggest that the other manufacturers might need to change from the "when you have sold your boat, talk to us" approach.
 
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