The founder of Marée Haute, Serge Calvez, answers the questions of BoatIndustry and draws the current portrait of his company. He also comes back on the failure of the merger with IDB Marine.
In a few figures, can you present Marée Haute to us today?
Since the arrival of BFR as a 49% minority shareholder, Marée Haute has become well structured, thanks to a real sharing of skills. This also gives me moral support as a company manager. We are now 30 people by integrating Marée Haute Services (editor's note: the result of the recent purchase of the Minahouet shipyard, specialized in boat maintenance and wintering, installed on the same site), whereas we were only about fifteen in 2017. We recruited a full-time engineer to create an internal design office and also a person for purchasing. The turnover went from 1.5 Meuros in 2017 to 3.1 Meuros in 2018, including 700 keuros for services. 8 Django 9.80 and 11 Django 7.70 have been delivered. Today, we are profitable and we have cleaned up part of the company's liabilities.
You had announced a tie-up with IDB Marine in September 2018, which did not come to fruition. How do you analyze this sequence?
I think it's a pity, but I respect Denis' choice (Editor's note: Bourbigot, IDB Marine's boss) and we talk. We had a common future. The only thing that bothers me is to have lost time and put things on hold, which we will have to restart now.
What are the current development objectives?
The first major objective is the development of services, with mechanics, winterization and maintenance. We are also working on enlarging the range, in terms of size, but also by separating sport and cruising. Today, we produce the Speed Feet 18, the Django 6.70, Django 7.70, Django 9.80 and Django 12.70. It is easy to see where the holes are. We used to make Mini 6.50, we don't make them anymore. It is excellent in terms of image, but it is dangerous. On the 2 projects we did, we didn't make any money.
In 2019 sales, we should make at least as much as in 2018. We're aiming for 2 to 3 more Django 12.70s in boats.
From an investment point of view, we will continue the renovation of the premises in stages. An ERP system is being set up for the computer system.
What is the place of Marée Haute in the race and the regatta?
We are finishing the commercial launch of the D85. It is a sport version of the Django 7.70. The objective is a Transquadra. On the other hand, we plan to create our race by organizing it or integrating it in a circuit. It's a way to accompany our clients because otherwise many of them don't participate in regattas because they don't have the time or the inclination!
There is also the team BFR Marée Haute in Mini 6.50, which makes the communication of our shareholder BFR while accompanying the development of the shipyard.
