Alongside PPF, Bénéteau takes the lead in boat rental
The Bénéteau Group, Europe's leading yacht manufacturer, has announced the creation of a joint venture with the Czech financial group PPF. The Vendée-based yachting heavyweight is taking a 41% stake in the new joint venture created with its partner, which is active in a wide range of fields, from media to biotechnology, real estate and telecoms, in Europe and Asia. The new entity, whose name has not been disclosed, will become the world's leading player in yacht charter by taking an 87% stake in Dream Yacht Group, which heads up the leading charter company Dream Yacht Charter and a distribution network, as well as 50% of Scandinavian company Navigare Yachting. Together they will represent a fleet of more than 1,200 boats.
Rescue of major clients and diversification
The announcement of these acquisitions, while marking a turning point compared to the previous manager who preferred to stay away from direct management of boat rentals, is in line with the strategy of diversification mentioned in May in our columns . Sales of boats, both monohulls and multihulls, to rental fleets represented a significant portion of the group's revenues before the pandemic. Helping these long-standing customers, who are currently experiencing difficulties due to the slowdown in international tourism, is both a useful operation for the Group and a low cost one at present. The Bénéteau Group is also taking advantage of the opportunity to move ahead of its rival Fountaine-Pajot, which until now has held a majority stake in Dream Yacht Group with investor NextStage.
Investment in boat clubs and digital services for yachting
Through the new operation, the Bénéteau Group is also acquiring SamBoat, the private boat rental website and its digital services for rental companies. Synergies will be created with the BandofBoats platform, already a member of the group. A further concentration phenomenon, while ClickandBoat, the last independent of the rental between individuals has approached in July 2021 the specialist of online ads and rental Boats Group.
In parallel with the joint venture, the Bénéteau Group is investing 40% directly in Your Boat Club, a North American specialist in the sector. It currently owns 24 boat clubs and manages 7 marinas. The transaction should enable the Vendée-based group to acquire the necessary foundations to revitalize its attempt to launch boat clubs in Europe. Its competitor Brunswick already owns the Freedom Boat Club.
Optimistic growth forecasts
The announcement of these investments, for a total amount of 40 million euros, was made on the occasion of the publication of the first half-year data and the company's outlook for 2021. The order backlog at the end of June reached 1,800 million euros, with deliveries scheduled beyond 2021. Revenues for the Boat Division at the end of June 2021, at 533.3 million euros, are up overall by +4.4% and by +143.3% excluding the rental fleet.
The Bénéteau Group forecasts growth of more than 6% for its Boat business in fiscal 2021 and more than 7% including the Habitat division.
