Fairline yachts - insolvent
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Discussion

slomax

Original Poster:

7,253 posts

221 months

Wednesday 11th November 2015
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I heard about this a few days ago, although it was only rumours at the time. Now its official.

http://www.mby.com/news/fairline-insolvency-specia...

Its a shame, but not unexpected, they have been dwindling for a while.

BoyBlue

89 posts

176 months

Wednesday 11th November 2015
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They have been taken over/sold a few times in the last 10 years. Times are hard in the boat business.

Boatbuoy

1,975 posts

191 months

Thursday 12th November 2015
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Such a shame to have seen the demise of a once great brand. I really enjoyed (most of) my 8 years there, but it never really recovered from the 2008 financial crash.

A very sad day for my friends who stayed on.

slomax

Original Poster:

7,253 posts

221 months

Thursday 12th November 2015
quotequote all
BoyBlue said:
They have been taken over/sold a few times in the last 10 years. Times are hard in the boat business.
Indeed they are, although I've heard that some of the Italian manufacturers are starting to pick up a bit now.

The weak euro and Russian troubles are hitting the uk industry pretty hard. Financial results for both Princess and Sunseeker weren't great for last year. Don't know how oyster etc are doing.

Edited by slomax on Thursday 12th November 12:20

Huntsman

9,310 posts

279 months

Thursday 12th November 2015
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slomax said:
Indeed they are, although I've heard that some of the Italian manufacturers are starting to pick up a bit now.

The weak euro and Russian troubles are hitting the uk industry pretty hard. Financial results for both Princess and Sunseeker weren't great for last year. Don't know how oyster etc are doing.

Edited by slomax on Thursday 12th November 12:20
I hear Princess are bleeding a million £££'s a month. That's not going to carry on long.

anonymous-user

83 months

Wednesday 2nd December 2015
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Unfortunately Fairline has gone into full administration today
http://www.mby.com/news/fairline-enters-administra...

slomax

Original Poster:

7,253 posts

221 months

Wednesday 2nd December 2015
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shame, I knew a couple of people who have been through their doors recently. I think they had a high staff turnover over the last few years.

northwest monkey

6,370 posts

218 months

Wednesday 2nd December 2015
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Maybe a daft question, but why are Rolls / Bentley / Range Rover etc. having a good time of it with their sales whereas this company isn't?

I would have thought the target market would have been quite similar & they are all luxury goods. I don't know anything about Fairline (or any other boat company) but I'm guessing they weren't cheap!

slomax

Original Poster:

7,253 posts

221 months

Thursday 3rd December 2015
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There's a few reasons, and I can't really even scratch the surface, but.....

Most of the customers are not based in the UK. Because the £ is so strong, and the € and $ so weak at the moment, you get a lot more for your money outside of the UK. There is currently a bit of a surge in Italian yacht builders and American manufacturers of late. For the likes of Automotive, most of it is at euro prices anyway as its all imported and just assembled in the uk. Whereas a lot of the expensive items on the yachts are UK made/manufactured, so there is only so much you can do to reduce the price to stay competitive before you start losing money.

Another problem is that the second hand market is pretty saturated with good quality yachts that are only 6-18 months old.

And the final one from me is that with a car you can essentially put it in a garage and not be overly concerned about it. Yachts require a lot more attention, and storage/mooring fees are a major factor for many. Ii fact, one way a lot of people help justify them is to charter them when you are not using them. This keeps them in operation, earning a bit of money, and you don't need to pay for mooring fees as this will be picked up by the user.


Huntsman

9,310 posts

279 months

Thursday 3rd December 2015
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As Slomax said, economics squeezing their business model from all angles.

The Med is littered with white plastic in the Fairline size range and such boats are more of a liability than an asset.

Boatbuoy

1,975 posts

191 months

Thursday 3rd December 2015
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I'm glad that I'm out of that game for the time being.

slomax

Original Poster:

7,253 posts

221 months

Thursday 3rd December 2015
quotequote all
Boatbuoy said:
I'm glad that I'm out of that game for the time being.
Me too as of tomorrow! (by my own free will, I hasten to add)

belleair302

7,008 posts

236 months

Thursday 3rd December 2015
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Sadly it is expensive to manufacture in the UK and sell in the eurozone. Way back in 2008 many US based boat manufacturers sold all of their inventory to Australia, Singapore, Thailand etc where there was a growing market. This enabled them to service boats from 08-11/12 and not have too many sitting around unsold. it seems here that this was just not possible and selling new boats from around £250,000 unto nearly £1,000,000 new isn't simple today when the market has shifted both down and up....

Buy a boat used.....use it, look after it and sell on after a couple of years. You will rarely make money but you wont lose much beyond running costs....maybe 30%, but the fun is well worth the loss.

northwest monkey

6,370 posts

218 months

Saturday 5th December 2015
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Cheers chaps - very interesting.