Can you remind us of the steps taken to relaunch Guymarine and White Shark since your arrival?
Nicolas Chiloff: Since I took over the yard in March 2016, we have begun a thorough work on production. The goal was to relaunch in good conditions. I hired Xavier Le Cosquer, an engineer in charge of production management, who already had experience in large nautical projects. We had 3 main areas of work, namely quality, lead time and price. After relaunching the existing boats, we are now presenting at Nautic 2017, the White Shark 300, the first new boat in the range since my arrival.
What about the commercial and industrial aspect to date?
Nicolas Chiloff: The turnover is at the level foreseen by our business plan when we took over. The big difference is the export share which represents 70% of the turnover, whereas it was almost non-existent when I arrived. After a year very much focused on Northern Europe in 2016/17, the Mediterranean is the driving force in 2017/18, with great activity in Spain, Italy and the Maghreb. The Guymarine and White Shark brands each represent 50% of the activity.
The dealer and distributor network had suffered a lot. We have done a lot of work to restore the desire and confidence of our partners. The pillars of the network are taking back boats from us, which shows that it has paid off. Today, we have a strong demand from new dealers to join the network.
What are the growth prospects?
Nicolas Chiloff: The development is good. We are now about fifteen people. We are considering enlarging our building because we are a little cramped in our 1500 m². The hangar houses the production of the two brands Guymarine and White Shark, even if they are managed separately.
To grow, we need to hire. We are working with the Pole Emploi and the Communauté de Communes de l'île d'Oléron to set up a training program for the island's nautical industries.
