Oyster Yachts gone into administration

SO40 said:
@lw395: and who are going to finish these boats? (sorry, yachts :ambivalence:) These are not bulk produced boats with CNC cut parts, profiles and prefab segments. Oysters are more or less hand made..... I would imagine a lot of staff just being made redundant are not going to queue up to work for Oyster again. I wouldn´t!
Click to expand...
That depends - there is not that much call for their skills and if a solution is found that keeps what is essentially the same company going I thnk many would happy to stay on / go back,
 
Looks like the hull of the Polina Star was moulded by Bridgland Moulders Ltd in Norfolk. Their 2016 Unaudited Financial Statements reveal a contingent liability of £7.2 million relating to a claim in relation to the loss of a vessel.
 
bedouin said:
That depends - there is not that much call for their skills and if a solution is found that keeps what is essentially the same company going I thnk many would happy to stay on / go back,
Click to expand...

I Gather that's what happened along the coast at Southerly when they went under the first time ...who incidentally finished all the boats on order, (although not all to the normal finish quality from what I heard.

Interestingly Discovery (who bought the brand and moulds from Southerly ) are very close by Oyster and have just compeleted an oversubscribed crowd funded cash raising yesterday. DIscovery hav expansion plans and are looking for new premises, and say they have already been in touch with Oyster about opportunities, and have had cvs from Oyster staff. As they (discovery) are looking to recruit it could be that it works out well for many of the displaced staff
 
bedouin said:
I don't know much about this end of the market but it would not be unreasonable for a manufacturer to make 20% profit on a boat, so £80m orders is £16m profit - not bad if you can pick (the assets of) the company up for £15m
Click to expand...

You might imagine that, but the company's (and group's) accounts for 2015 (before exceptionals) and 2016 imply a MUCH lower profit margin than you are assuming, at least at the "net operating profit" line. I think Oyster would not be in the predicament they are now if they were making 20% net operating margins.

Then again, £15m was the price paid a while back, and not necessarily what the business would be worth now as a going concern.....
 
Last edited:
SO40 said:
@lw395: and who are going to finish these boats? (sorry, yachts :ambivalence:) These are not bulk produced boats with CNC cut parts, profiles and prefab segments. Oysters are more or less hand made..... I would imagine a lot of staff just being made redundant are not going to queue up to work for Oyster again. I wouldn´t!
Click to expand...

Depends what other offers you have.
I am not sure who else would be hiring.
I'm not familiar with the shop floor at Oyster, but a mate (deadly rival on the race course more like) works for another fairly high end yard and there is a surprising amount of CADCAM there. Even one-offs can involve a lot of CNC these days.
But there are other yards who do refit work, who could fit out to a similar standard I imagine.
 
SO40 said:
@lw395: and who are going to finish these boats? (sorry, yachts :ambivalence:) These are not bulk produced boats with CNC cut parts, profiles and prefab segments. Oysters are more or less hand made..... I would imagine a lot of staff just being made redundant are not going to queue up to work for Oyster again. I wouldn´t!
Click to expand...

They were hand made but used cnc cutter for majority of the build, they also used to do a bit of cnc cutting for other local boatbuilders, I had a factory tour at Hoveton and was a nice facility they had there.
 
I think owners will resist any attempt from receivers to sell the work in progress to other yards who will not necessarily be in possession of the tooling and drawings for the boats, and who will want their finished yachts to conform to the design for CE marks etc, and would presumably want them fully branded as Oyster yachts, including the quality of fit and finish

In the case of Southerly the boats were finished to their normal high standard (not hearsay - I know it for a fact) by the excellent Southerly teams that were working on the same boats prior to the first "restructuring" and although delayed were completed within the original contract terms, with all materials and equipment installed fully paid for so there were no claims against the completed boats. I hope that for the Oyster owners and workforce this is the final outcome of this sad state of affairs.

In the final closure of Southerly the completion differed in that new contracts were required, and the costs were more than in the original contract, however the staff were once again the original teams, and looking at the final boat to leave the yard it was probably one of the nicest finished yachts they built.

The situation with Oyster is different I guess - but whatever the cause I hope a good solution is found quickly, and that all those affected emerge with minimum adverse impact, the exact nature of which for suppliers, customers and people will only be defined when a solution is agreed, which in turn is dependant on the underlying situation about which only very few people currently have a proper understanding so I would wish them the best and hope that the Oyster name returns with gusto....
 
Last edited:
Angele said:
You might imagine that, but the company's (and group's) accounts for 2015 (before exceptionals) and 2016 imply a MUCH lower profit margin than you are assuming, at least at the "net operating profit" line. I think Oyster would not be in the predicament they are now if they were making 20% net operating margins.

Then again, £15m was the price paid a while back, and not necessarily what the business would be worth now as a going concern.....
Click to expand...

If a Yacht is built "at cost" that will affect profitability
 
Barbican said:
I think owners will resist any attempt from receivers to sell the work in progress to other yards who will not necessarily be in possession of the tooling and drawings for the boats, and who will want their finished yachts to conform to the design for CE marks etc, and would presumably want them fully branded as Oyster yachts, including the quality of fit and finish
Click to expand...

Pretty sure it will be the owners/buyers of the boats that will have the final say in who completes the boats. As i explained earlier the part complete boats will almost certainly be the property of the buyers so any administrator/receiver/liquidator would not have title to sell as they are not assets of the company.

There are all sorts of possible scenarios, one of which might be the buyers creating an entity to finish the boats and contracting to use the necessary facilities. However, my money would be on a single buyer acquiring the whole operation including the rights to the designs etc. and then negotiating new contracts for completion of the boats.
 
Angele said:
Ummm! You lost me there. Surely a yacht is always built "at cost", it is what you sell it for that determines how much of a profit you make.
Click to expand...

Yes built & sold to a director at cost, if / when he sells in on it has become " a chattel" = no income tax to pay
 
Aston martin virtually never made a profit for its owners. I think that the brand offers massive appeal, it will not die. It may be true that no one wanted step in with unknowns, but free of encumbrances it will generate a lot of interest. the sad thing is it is always the best people who jump first and they are often the ones that would have got a job anyway. I am sure that most of the Oysters staff will be offered jobs by the new owners, some may have to take a pay cut.
 
pvb said:
Looks like the hull of the Polina Star was moulded by Bridgland Moulders Ltd in Norfolk. Their 2016 Unaudited Financial Statements reveal a contingent liability of £7.2 million relating to a claim in relation to the loss of a vessel.
Click to expand...
Interesting.... but also concerning if another of our U.K. marine companies were to turn out to be at risk as well. Don’t know this organisation (though easily researched), but lets hope no more damage.
 
dunedin said:
Interesting.... but also concerning if another of our U.K. marine companies were to turn out to be at risk as well. Don’t know this organisation (though easily researched), but lets hope no more damage.
Click to expand...

It's a tiny company, working out of a shed in darkest Norfolk.
 
pvb said:
It's a tiny company, working out of a shed in darkest Norfolk.
Click to expand...

Bridgland Moulders Ltd is a very discreet private company with no internet presence, despite being incorporated in 1977.

The earliest event I can find mentioning Bridgland Moulders Ltd is the news of Oyster being bought by HTP Investments.
http://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/i...-marine-acquired-by-dutch-investors-1-1216144

The next event was a fire in their premises in October 2013.
http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/video-update-fire-crews-leave-site-of-blaze-in-ashmanhaugh-1-2927021

The latest mention is slightly stranger. A boat movement from Dorset to their premises on 26 Jan 2018. It could be a boat in for a repair. Any one know if this was an Oyster?
http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/video-update-fire-crews-leave-site-of-blaze-in-ashmanhaugh-1-2927021
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top