The Grand Large Yachting group has taken over the Fora Marine shipyard, builder of RM sailboats, at the bar of the commercial court in February 2020. Its co-founder, Stéphan Constance, explains the situation and the plans for the boat brand.
What was RM's situation at the time of the takeover? Why were you a candidate for the acquisition of Fora Marine?
This is a dramatic situation. The shipyard costs 200,000 euros per month and in recent years, the boats were only bringing in 100,000 euros per month. 100,000 euros were lost each month, leading to an accumulated loss of 1.4 million euros. The equation to turn the company around is very complicated. We have given a lot of thought to this, and only a few of us have taken a position. But Grand Large has the levers to restore a healthy situation. We became interested because of the popularity of the RM brand and the quality of its teams. People are one of its main assets. We took over 80% of the staff. RM is based on a triptych:
- performance, in particular through Marc Lombard, with whom we hope to continue working
- the distinctive design. The flashy colors were a great idea from Martin Lepoutre
- comfort, which makes them ideal for families and travellers
It is an equation to be preserved and developed.
What are the levers you mention to develop RM sailboats?
We have 3 levers:
- industrial know-how, with an organization that already works in the Grand Large group
- the pooling of purchases. We don't buy at the same price from a site with a turnover of 6/7 million euros and from a group with a turnover of 60 million euros. This will help to clean up losses.
- distribution abroad, which currently accounts for only 20%, mainly in Spain and Italy. I have heard from Grand Large distributors who are interested in RM.
Major projects have already been launched on the ERP, for example.
What about the use of subcontracting by Fora Marine and a possible internalisation within the group, as well as the establishment of RM in La Rochelle?
We have never relocated a site, except for Gunboat. We don't want to lose the people and the infrastructure. We were told at the time of the Garcia takeover that we would not stay in Condé-sur-Noireau. We are still there. As for internalizing the work done by the suppliers, this is not our plan. As we told the court, the ability to internalize is more of a back-up in case of a problem in the market or with a failing supplier.
What is the business situation and future objectives?
Today, former customers have priority on orders before the summer of 2020 (Editor's note: The views of Stéphan Constance and former clients are detailed in a dedicated article). New customers are positioning themselves for 2021. The goal is to restore confidence with an objective of 8Meuros in 6 years, by returning to what was done in the past. To do this, we need to promote the high quality of the construction methods of RM yachts to boaters, so that they can charge a fair price without having to make large discounts.
