2016 turnover jump 8% at Princess

Princess Yachts International, the UK’s second largest boatbuilder, posted a gain of 8% in turnover to £216.7m with today’s order book in excess of £500 million.

Princess Yachts’ results for the 2016 financial year ending December 31 offer strong growth in revenues for the luxury motoryacht builder, up 7.7% to £216.7 million from £201.2 million in 2015.

The company is now second behind Sunseeker in terms of revenues, with Sunseeker reporting turnover of £252 million for the same period.

Princess’ Strategic Report filed with its company accounts in late June attributed the turnover gains to a long-term business plan including aggressive product replacement which resulted in higher sales of larger boats with larger margins.

That plan was initiated last year when Antony Sheriff was appointed as Executive Chairman and shareholders injected a net of £8.5m into the company mid-year along with another £4.4m available to draw down.

New product launches and sales, further helped by a weakening pound, have boosted Princess’ order book, which stretched to an average of 18 months at the end of 2016, up from an average of 12 months the previous year.

The momentum has carried into 2017, with delivery slots for some product lines extending to the second half of 2018. The builder said its order book currently exceeds retail value of £500 million.

Profitability also improved during the year by nearly 40% with a net loss on ordinary activities (before taxes) of -£12.2m, up from -£20.2m in 2015.

Exceptional costs of £4.8m during the year reflect redundancy expenses and one-time consultancy fees associated with the three-year £5.5m investment plan initiated last year.

The builder also made further progress with insurance claims to settle damages from hurricane force storm that hit its facilities in February 2014.

The company’s total net loss (after tax and other costs related to pension liabilities) for the year was -£15.8m.

At the end of 2016, Princess had 1,918 employees, down about 9% from 2,100 employees the previous year.

Princess has reported current employment at about 2,350.  Last year, production staff accounted for 96% of employees.