Sunseeker Bought

There was talk of the Chinese wanting to start some production of boats in China which would impact jobs in the UK. I understand Mr Braithewaite was not happy with this and was adamant that he would allow this. I wonder how that issue was resolved?
 
gjgm said:
I think we need to ask Henry if they got a discount? ;)
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When I saw it advertised they were asking £420 million, what did it end up making ?

;)

Has no one told them the price of fuel and the fact you can't hang around with fishing trawlers any more means everyone is deserting boats ?

Can we all agree then that talk of an industry on it's knees and struggling to sell boats might be a tad premature? Whilst I'm not a massive fan of their styling you can't deny Sunseeker are one of the brand marketing success stories of this country. Up there with Rolls Royce, Jaguar, Football and mushy peas.


I hope that part of the brand appeal is the fact the boats are made in the UK.


H.
 
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deuc02 said:
Bet it was alot less. But you're 100% right ref marketing. Sunseeker definately got that one right
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The headline figure, whatever it happens to be, is completely meaningless because the new owner will have taken on all of the existing company's liabilities. IMHO a figure of £420m is ludicrous anyway if it were based on a simple multiple of the company's predicted future profits. Anyway whatever it happens to be, I'm pleased to see that Sunseeker seems to have got itself an owner thats in for the long term, unlike one or 2 other owners of British motorboat building companies. Yes Sunseeker should be congratulated for carefully fostering a global brand that is recognisable all over the world and it is that brand which has attracted the new owners. Just a bit of a shame that once again, another piece of British manufacturing falls into foreign hands but its good news for the workforce and the supply chain
 
Deleted User said:
Anyway whatever it happens to be, I'm pleased to see that Sunseeker seems to have got itself an owner thats in for the long term, unlike one or 2 other owners of British motorboat building companies. Yes Sunseeker should be congratulated for carefully fostering a global brand that is recognisable all over the world and it is that brand which has attracted the new owners. Just a bit of a shame that once again, another piece of British manufacturing falls into foreign hands but its good news for the workforce and the supply chain
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It reminds me of British Flyreels, made in Falmouth sold all over the world, one day they were taken over by a Chinese firm and work carried on as normal. Then come holiday shut down, the workforce return to find a totally empty factory. The new owners had packed the lot, including waste paper bins, into containers and shipped them to China.

The problem is that to global firms, Sunseeker is petty cash, look at BMW accounts, it's the name and knowledge that is valuable, not the production line.


Brian
 
Oh dear. It would appear the art of humour has passed us by.

In the news article linked to the deal was done at £320m. I don't believe they ever advertised the company in the back of Motor Boat & Yachting although possibly we might ask Kwacker to thumb through his back copies :)

H.

Henry
 
As a supplier I wish them all the best. It is tough to sell boats but they are shifting them, at what price ?; who knows.
Hopefully a decent long-term investor will allow them some more breathing space as cash has been very tight. The £320M is probably the start of it.
Personally I can't really see the benefit of moving production from Poole.
Its fine to move to China if you make thousands of widgets: you order a sample, receive it, inspect it, get it modified, (probably several times), get it back and then order thousands of replicas and they arrive months later a bit like clones.
Boat building is different because you only make a few a year and every one is different and almost unique.
Even though they really needed to do something money-wise I genuinely don't think they would have sold if they thought all manufacturing was off to China.
They would have hung on for another deal, don't forget the Management still own nearly 9% that's still valued at over £23M.
Or am I totally wrong ?
 
Probably a huge debate that has been had many times but the fact is that UK labour costs significantly more than Chinese labour.. That's why so much of the "stuff" the world buys comes from that part of the world and why China as a whole is so cash rich and buying up things all over the place.. (http://www.londonlovesbusiness.com/...-equity/how-china-bought-britain/5766.article)

If the Chinese business model for Sunseeker dictates that they have to significantly cut production costs then I am pretty sure it will move production to China because with UK wage rates they will have a hard time doing it here, especially considering its such a labour intensive process.. I doubt it will happen quickly or all at once but fast forward 5 - 10 years and while it's impossible to say if it will still be a UK based company I personally doubt it will be..
 
One thing to consider in all this, is the Chinese aspire to own quality goods! Whilst they happy to produce low cost products, individually they crave high end european brands. One really nice story, when Cartier open a flagship branch in Shangai they had to restrict 1 purchase per customer, otherwise they would have been sold out in days! So does the billionaire Chinese businessman want his boat to be a clone built by the thousand or a prestige craft that others admire? Personally I think the west needs to understand the Chinese better, they do not believe that simply buying cheaper is best.
Pan
 
SUNSEEKER has been sold to a Chinese commercial property conglomerate in a £320 million deal, it has been confirmed today - Wish I had been brokering that deal :(

Anyway for all you doom and gloom mongers out there I understand from the horses mouth in Plymouth today that Princess Yachts are working flat out and Turkey is buying up loads of there boats @ the moment.

So as well as Sunseeker Princess are doing remarkebly well compared to three years ago ;)

The rich are obviously getting richer in the recession to be able to afford there toys :cool:
 
China is not cheap anymore, I think Vietnam is cheaper right now as our some countries in South Central America. Most US firms are moving down there with Mexico being one of the most interesting destinations for the decade to come.

Yes some places in China are cheaper then Mexico but those are the inland area and the transport costs alone would not make it worthwhile even for small goods.
Saying all this there is also the mentality that China equals cheap in the mind of the people and that is not easy to erase, when you move a brand as Sunseeker this might end up costing you double or loosing a bunch of clients.
I am for one caught in this, most items made in China are worth less to me and I end up throwing in the bin, oh I have a polishing buffer which served its purpose for a couple of years now after changing it in gurantee like three times....

The famous China places for production are actually at the moment more expensive then some other Eastern European countries to produce, pity that there is so many German, British investment and Bank interests in the Pacific that Europe cannot as yet acknowledge this.... Waiting for the internal market to boom? It would be interesting what China would become when it will cost more then it is today and more produce cheaper type of companies start to look for relocation.....
 
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PowerYachtBlog said:
I am for one caught in this, most items made in China are worth less to me...
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I am kind of with you on that.. Been disappointed too many times by "cheaper" Chinese products.. I have almost swung the other way now in that if something is made in China and I see another one made somewhere else I will buy the other one.. Chances are the internals are the same but it somehow "feels" better.. :)
 
pan said:
One thing to consider in all this, is the Chinese aspire to own quality goods! Whilst they happy to produce low cost products, individually they crave high end european brands. One really nice story, when Cartier open a flagship branch in Shangai they had to restrict 1 purchase per customer, otherwise they would have been sold out in days! So does the billionaire Chinese businessman want his boat to be a clone built by the thousand or a prestige craft that others admire? Personally I think the west needs to understand the Chinese better, they do not believe that simply buying cheaper is best.
Pan
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See post #5 :)

We are the same. If it's engineered and made in Germany or a Watch and made in Switzerland we hold it in higher esteem. There are many such examples when you are in Asia, the most obvious of course being cars.

Henry :)
 
We have to hope that the new owners really understand what they have bought, and where the value is. One analogy is Tata and JLR. Ratan Tata, when he arrived at JLR told his new workforce that there was nothing he could add in product design and development, but he knew how to run a business. He has been proven correct. Tata has invested substantially, and is now reaping the reward. The emerging world wants to buy high value British cars. I hope this analogy will work for Sunseeker.
 
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