The 海角视频’s largest luxury boat builder Princess Yachts has revealed a US$1bn order book and said production is struggling to keep up with demand.
The Plymouth manufacturer’s financial update has revealed a “record-setting commercial performance” with sales rate surpassing production rate, driving record low distributor stock levels.
It said almost all production through to the end of 2022 and more than 60% of 2023 production is already covered by orders. This year it has already sold 20 of its flagship Superfly X95 and has 57 orders for the new Y72 model which launched this summer.
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The company is now poised for further growth with the new Y95, X80,and V50 already in production, as well as five further new model launches by the end of 2022.
And, despite being in a Covid-19 recovery phase, intensive recruitment continues with increased investment in skills training and award-winning apprenticeship programmes.
The firm, which employs about 3,200 people in Plymouth, said it has faced challenges from the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing supply chain issues affecting the 海角视频. Turnover and profits dipped in 2020 as the company was affected by a temporary Covid-related closure.
But it has bounced back strongly and despite ongoing challenges retail sales have grown to the highest levels in the history of the company, with an order book exceeding US$bn.
With record low distributor stock levels globally - equivalent to one to two weeks of stock - and production almost completely covered by orders into the second half of 2023, the company said it is in a unique commercial position.
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Antony Sheriff, Princess Yachts executive chairman and chief executive, said: “As expected, in a Covid-19 year when we stood down our 3,200 strong team for Q2 2020, turnover reduced to £244m from 2019’s full year turnover of £314m.
“The combination of our unique vertically integrated manufacturing process, the investment required to make it Covid-19 compliant and our decision to not cut new product development or make staff redundant resulted in an understandable drop in profits during 2020.
“However, these decisions have put us in an excellent position during 2021 and onwards. Although Covid-19 continues to bring interruptions in the supply chain and government mandated self-isolation of staff, we significantly improved financial performance in 2021 compared to 2019 and 2020 and we expect even stronger results in 2022 .”
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He added: “We continue to move forwards with an ambitious new product launch plan and innovative new ways to engage with our customers . The company now has a retail order book worth over US$1bn with the sales success of new models such as the X95, X80 and Y72 exceeding expectations. We have had over 20 orders for the X95, and 57 orders for the new Y72 model, the majority of these orders received off plan. All production slots are now filled for 2021, over 95% of 2022 production and over 60% of 2023 production is covered by orders.”
A return to many of the global boat shows this calendar year saw Princess Yachts attend Palm Beach International Yacht Show in March 2021; Cannes Yachting Festival 2021; Southampton International Boat Show 2021; with plans being finalised for the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show in October 2021 and the much-anticipated return to Boot Düsseldorf in January 2022.