Boatbuilder still upbeat despite deepening losses

PRINCESS YACHTS IN £69M PRE-TAX LOSS

- WILLIAM TELFORD

PLYMOUTH’S Princess Yachts has insisted its future remains bright despite posting a £69m pre-tax loss. The company blamed inflation and supply chain issues which meant it couldn’t build as many boats.

But it stressed it had orders to manufacture more than £750m of vessels. The Stonehouse-headquartered firm has already received deposits for these boats and said the work will stretch through 2025 and into 2026.

Nevertheless, Princess Yachts (Holdings) Ltd, in its newly published accounts for 2022, described the year as “disappointing”. It saw revenue drop by £22.8m, a 7.3% decline, to £289.6m and its loss, even before exceptional costs were taken out, deepened by £27.5m.

The company described sales as “healthy”, however, and pointed to demand continuing to outstrip supply. But it stressed that major disruption to the supply chain severely impacted production resulting in a negative EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) for the first time since 2020. This fell by £25.9m to a deficit of £12.6m.

The overall pre-tax loss was £69.3m, a huge increase on the £19.2m loss it made in 2021.