Paul, in my experience, and I’ve looked closely at both Sunseeker and Fairline, the problem is less the accountants, and more with the culture of both, that refuses to move into the 21st century. The culture is…..”this is what works best for Sun/Fairline, always has done, and we see no reason to change…..”. Except they must change to survive. The Italians, French and Germans are adopting modern management and manufacturing processes, and are making good businesses as a result.
So there is a drop in the world wide market share for luxury vessels & it is deemed necessary to reduce staff thus cutting costs. You have no idea of the internal finances, or structure of the company. You have no idea of the new company's intended strategy- other than to make a profit for its shareholders ( which is every company's intended target). However, you blame the management, for something possibly beyond their control.
Well when it passes the duck test, it has to be at least duck adjacent. Fairline has been ridden by 9 jockeys with hungry shareholders in 18 years. Sunseeker is on their fifth in the same period as of this year. I agree that the purpose of a company is to make a profit, but these entities tend to strip value rather than generate profit. Look at Fletcher, down below 10 employees at the last count.So there is a drop in the world wide market share for luxury vessels & it is deemed necessary to reduce staff thus cutting costs. You have no idea of the internal finances, or structure of the company. You have no idea of the new company's intended strategy- other than to make a profit for its shareholders ( which is every company's intended target). However, you blame the management, for something possibly beyond their control.
Typical
Fletcher doesn’t exist as a real company, the shell is a prepack vehicle, they’re the shysters that have just ‘acquired’ Fairline.
Yeah. That's the future for Fairline I believe.
Ultimately that is what will happen. Then those manufacturers will/do build high end low volume stuff. In the long run only the efficient survive. Hiding behind a "brand" however famous only gets you so far.
The owners of Sunseeker have been pouring money into the business for years. How is that being a "vulture"?
Fairline tried that a few years ago. To give you an example, they had an automated varnishing machine. The equipment cost them a fortune and it would only work with flat surfaces. The end result being that everyone compared the furniture with Ikea. The problem is that the volumes are so small that automation is very difficult to achieve. Despite this, as far as I know, CNC is already used for mould manufacture and for cutting wooden panels.
Off you trot and set one up then. See if you can do better than British brands Shetland, Shakespeare, Microplus, Fletcher, Dell Quay, Birchwood, Sealine and indeed Princess, Fairline and Sunseeker who were building circa 20-30ft boats back in the seventies and eighties before they realised that this market was drying up fast.
All the big brands have been 'about to move abroad within the next two years' for as long as I can remember
Exactly.All the big brands have been 'about to move abroad within the next two years' for as long as I can remember
Princess was 'bound to move to France' when LVMH got involved 'because French owner' (and never mind that it never moved to South Africa during the many years it was owned by Graham Beck), Sunseeker was apparently off to China when the Chinese bought it, Fairline were off to Russia a few years ago. All apparently, all never happened.
I wouldn't hold your breath.
I wasn't referring to the past owners, I specifically quoted the section of the BBC article which referred to the two venture capital companies that have taken over.
