Profitable Boat Building Business For Sale

Business description

- Profits averaging £33K/year for the past 5 years.
- Can be relocated anywhere.
- High profit ratios, compared to sales, and to work done.
- Unique business model – not easy to copy.
- Powerful established website – attracts customers with no effort.
- The present owner is only selling because he is emigrating, it would not be for sale otherwise.
- Big opportunity for expanding the business and profits.
- Selling price includes demo boat, tools and assets worth £45K.

Will suit one new owner or a partnership of two.
Profits have the potential to expand rapidly to cover two people – see opportunities section.
The new owners will need to have some woodworking or boatbuilding skills, but instruction will be given.

Profits-
The average profits attributable to the owner for the past 5 years has been £33.000 per year. There are 5 years full accounts from a respected firm of accountants, plus bank statements, corporation tax receipts, invoices and other documents to prove this. The variation between years is not very big, and shows no pattern. This has been achieved with virtually no advertising and has big potential to expand.

This has been for an average of 1500 hours work per year. eg 35 hours per week average plus 10 weeks holiday per year.
This averages around £22 per hour worked. If the new owner wishes to work less hours but more profitably; then employing a subcontractor can increase the owner's profit per hour worked to £44. Figures available please ask.
For more information on the hours worked see the opportunities section at the end.

Because the company occupies a niche market position with little competition, it can charge higher profit margins than similar companies. The profit margin averaged over the past 5 years is 54% (turnover £304k, Profit £165K).

Business History-
The business has been developed over the past 10 years. It started off part time, and took 5 years to build into a full time profitable business. In the further 5 years since then it has been solidly profitable. This has been much stronger performance than the majority of businesses through 2009-11.
The company sells boats direct to the customer. All the boats are built to a customer’s individual requirements. The customer pays in stages, so the boats pay for themselves as they are built.

Website-
Perhaps the most important part of the company from the customer’s point of view is the website. This is well established, and highly rated by Google. It attracts customers’ interest and enquiries with no effort from the owner.

The website was developed in tandem with the company over the past 10 years, and is a result of over 1200 hours work. It is now one of the most important wooden boat websites in Europe.

This is crucial in gaining customer confidence. In fact about 1/3rd of customers order solely on the strength of the website. Corresponding by e mails or phone calls, they never actually visit. This helps the business to cover a larger area effectively, and about 40% of the boats are exported, mostly within Europe.

‘In House’ boat design catalogue-
The business has a back catalogue of boat designs which can be reused and modified. This is actually the companies’ ‘Unique selling point’. There are few other companies in Europe which offer an integrated design/build service for custom boats.

There are lots of production boat builders around, hence lots of competition. But if a potential customer wants something ‘special’ making then –
1, He will generally expect to pay generously for it
2, Production boatbuilders can’t do it because they’re working from fixed moulds which can’t be modified.
3, There are few other companies which can demonstrate a successful track record of making boats like this. This proof of past success is vital to getting the customer’s order.

Other Assets-
Other assets included with the business include –
1, A demonstration boat showing high build quality. This helps get customers to buy.
2, All tools needed to build the boats. Including band saws, planer, hand power tools. (A full list will be available)
3, Software to modify the boat designs for custom boats. This also prints out the plans and offsets for building. It is permanently useable, there are no ongoing costs or subscriptions involved.
4, Building manual – detailing each construction stage of the boats. This is the result of thousands of hours learning on the job. There are also a series of photographic build diaries, detailing the building of several boats.
5, Construction hours spreadsheets – detailing how long each task has taken in previous boats. To know how much to charge and allow for future jobs.
6, Materials order forms – a list of everything needed to purchase during the process of building a boat. For costing and scheduling purchases.
7, A small inventory of parts for boats.

Location-
The business is building new boats, which go away on trailers. The orders come from all over the UK and Europe via the website. There is no local trade. So there are no location requirements, the business can go anywhere. There is no need to be near the water – helping to keep overheads down. Presently the business is located in a rented unit on a farm in the Leeds/Bradford area. This is about as far away from the sea and boating centres as possible in the UK, so any move would be an upgrade.

Handover/Ongoing work-
The present owner will work with the purchaser to pass on knowledge of all aspects of the business, and will be available for consultation afterwards.

Opportunities-
The present owner’s wife has a highly paid job. This leaves the present owner with childcare responsibilities for 2 small children, and no need to work. So he works short hours, subcontracts work out, does no boat shows or promotion events, no magazine articles and very little advertising.
All of these areas can be addressed easily by someone able to work normal hours. Leading to seriously increased business.

Relocating the business nearer to a boating centre will bring in repair and restoration work and passing trade. At present the business has none of this.

The company has a good foothold in several strongly growing niche areas of the boat building business, eg electric and fuel efficient ‘eco’ boats, sustainably built boats, wooden boats.

The website has grown organically with the business, and performs very well indeed. But it has never had any professional work done on it. There is the opportunity for even better performance with some input from website specialists.

One of the boats has appeared in a three films recently. Film work is likely to increase as the company becomes more known in the film industry. The double benefits are; that the work is very profitable in itself (£4-800 per day + expenses) and it increases the exposure of the company. There is also the business of making film prop boats. The boats have also been hired for advertising photo shoots.

Property information

Location:

Anywhere - Relocatable.

Premises details:

Does not need a large space, a large double garage would be enough.
Presently in a rented unit on a farm.
Approx 350 -900 sq ft unit size will suit.

Business Operation

Expansion potential:

Marketing and advertising to increase sales.
The present owner has all the work he can handle and has not been looking for more.
Relocating the business near to a boating centre will bring in repair and restoration work and passing trade.
The company has a good foothold in several strongly growing niche areas of the boat building business, eg electric and fuel efficient ‘eco’ boats, sustainably built boats, wooden boats.
More film work.

Competition / Market:

Little competition in it's niche market.

Reasons for selling:

The owner is emigrating to New Zealand. The business would not be for sale otherwise.

Trading hours:

The present owner works an average of 30 hrs per week.
But there is obviously potential to work more hours.

Employees:

1

Years established:

10

Other information

Support & training:

The present owner will work with the purchaser to pass on knowledge of all aspects of the business, and will be available for consultation afterwards.

Owner financing:

Owner financing is available. Please contact the seller for more information.

Financing available:

Some owner finance available if required.

Furniture / Fixtures value:

£3,000 (included in the asking price)

Inventory / Stock value:

£42,000 (included in the asking price)

Home based:

This business can be run from home.

Relocatable:

This business can be relocated.