Princess have had plenty of practice at drafting press releases where financial data is concerned. They have for many years picked accounting policies that flatter their profits and structures that make their substantial bank debt less visible. But none of that fixes their longstanding failure to generate cash or takes the debt away, despite the fact their designs are very good and they sell a lot of boats . They are a disastrous investment for their private equity fund owner- deeply underwater. You have to hope the new CEO (as of couple of yrs ago) can turn it around.
Yup. We're focussing on different things. Sales look good and the model line up is fresh and big. I'm talking about cash flow and returns to equity investors, which are different things. As regards out of date, yes for published accounts but no for street knowledge. The debt number in the last published accounts (which is the first time published accounts revealed it because they had to restructure the debt) is ballpark up to date.I think Princess are notable in that they have continued to invest right across the range to a point where now there are no "old" models in the line up. That has cost money but left them in a very strong position moving forwards. At the time it was a bold move after 2008 and required investors who were in it for the long term but I suspect when 2018 trading is accounted for things will look rosy. I dont have JFM's knowledge of corporate accounts but my understanding is that any figures out there will be out of date by probably a year or two.
What Princess probably will be trying to do is ramp up production a bit to get to a point where more boats leave the factory on an annual basis. It can be hard to discover how many boats are actually built by builders as they all want to big themselves up. The true test is speaking to suppliers. Each boat needs 2 engines
Certainly going by confirmed sales on here we know that Princess are selling boats.
Henry
No way is £100m new equity going into the company from the shareholders.
Read it again: they are embarking on a £100m program and they have launched a £100m plan. That is WAY different from actually spending an incremental £100m in the nearish future.
No way is £100m new equity going into the company from the shareholders.
As I said at the start, Princess aren't bad at drafting press releases
I don't think anyone at Dalian would be confident of making a return on their Sunseeker investment. It clearly wasn't made with a decent return in mind, but they so far have been great shareholders. Phil Popham has done a stunning job at Sunny to date, and some great plans for the future too. With their deep pockets, Dalian appear to be in for the long term, as they have been with the majority of their overseas investments.I'm clearly going to show you why I don't invest money in businesses here but with someone like Princess isn't it the case that whilst the money men have sunk some money in over the years if they can get to a point where Princess have a good product line up and healthy sales then someone else will come along and say hello, can I buy the company please. Dalian Wanda bought Sunseeker for £320 million I believe. Strip away all the hype and I'd say Princess has a better product line up than Sunseeker with some good representation around the world. Sunseeker have just sacked half their dealers because they were under performing.
How much do the money people behind Princess need to see back to make a modest profit ?
Henry
edited to say I'm embarking on purchasing a new 40m motor yacht and have launched a £20 million plan which starts with £20 in my TSB savers club account
Dalian/Sunseeker was an amazing price but wont be repeated unless someone gets lucky. The Chinese are obviously not making any outbound investments right now.I'm clearly going to show you why I don't invest money in businesses here but with someone like Princess isn't it the case that whilst the money men have sunk some money in over the years if they can get to a point where Princess have a good product line up and healthy sales then someone else will come along and say hello, can I buy the company please. Dalian Wanda bought Sunseeker for £320 million I believe. Strip away all the hype and I'd say Princess has a better product line up than Sunseeker with some good representation around the world. Sunseeker have just sacked half their dealers because they were under performing.
How much do the money people behind Princess need to see back to make a modest profit ?
Henry
edited to say I'm embarking on purchasing a new 40m motor yacht and have launched a £20 million plan which starts with £20 in my TSB savers club account
How true - and how sad.
Forget the theory, H.
