Boat builder tips strong year
ONE of Australia’s biggest luxury boat builders has continued its remarkable recovery five years after shaking off the controlling hand of receivers.
Gold Coast-based Riviera enjoyed a 9 per cent spike in production last year to churn out nearly 100 boats. That’s up from 84 in 2016 and nearly double the number from 2013.
Exports shot up by 27 per cent in 2017 as revenue climbed 9 per cent.
Company owner and chairman Rodney Longhurst hailed it as a “momentous’’ year for the firm, highlighted by the launch of a new sports motor yacht collection.
“More than half of all our production in the past year has been exported and we are delighted that almost 100 motor yachting aficionados around the world have joined the Riviera family,’’ he said.
Longhurst, a tourism and property investor, bought the company from receivers for an undisclosed sum in 2012 after they had been at the helm for three years.
Battered by the global financial crisis, Riviera was shackled with $320 million of debt at one point and operated under a deed of company arrangement which ended in 2010.
Under that deed, unsecured creditors owed $16.4 million recovered less than 2 cents on the dollar.
But a new management team and revitalised retail dealer network around the world went a long way to reviving the company, which now employs 580 staff.
Riviera expects continued smooth sailing, tipping a 35 per cent lift in the number of boats manufactured in 2018.