http://www.ibi-plus.com International Boat Industry | DECEMBER 2015 53
We are
reinvesting
¤50m of ¤80m of the
capital funds from our
parent into
new-product
developmentBeyond rising sales numbers, there
seems to be a new fighting spirit in the
Ferretti Group that was absent just
12 months ago. Galassi seems to have
instilled a sense of optimism and derring-
do within his young management team as
it attempts to reclaim the Ferretti Group’s
legacy after seven years of losses.
BRAND FOCUS
Q At the Monaco show, after a year and
a half in the CEO job, you said you were
having “the time of your life.” Why?
A We’re reached three important
milestones as part of our three-year
business plan. We’ve reorganized our
sales and marketing
departments. Now,
each brand has a head
of sales focused entirely
on its own brand.
Secondly, the company
is now financially solid.
In fact, we are doing
better than what we’d
forecasted for this
year, largely because
of market acceptance of our new models.
We are reinvesting (50m of (80m of the
capital funds from our parent into new-
product development. The success of our
new products is the third pillar of our
business strategy.
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
The numbers don’t lie. We’ve already sold
seven units of the new Ferretti Yachts
550 and six units of the new Custom Line
- For our Riva brand, we’ve sold four
units of the new 76 Perseo, three of the 86
Domino and three units of the 88 Florida.
Each of our brands is performing because
of new models.
Q Where you worried about whether
you could achieve positive financial
numbers in the Weichai Group’s
time frame?
A Did I know a turnaround was possible?
Yes. Did I think I could do it in the
time frame they gave me? Maybe not. I
certainly wasn’t expecting to see these
positive results ahead of the forecasted
plan. I had six months on the board of
directors before taking the job. I made
the decision because of the strength of
our main shareholder. They take the
long-term view of an industrial company,
not the short view of a private equity
firm.Q Has your aviation
background helped?
A I’ve always been a passionate
yachtsman, but I think aviation has
also helped because of that industry’s
obsession with quality. We’ve tried to
instill that at Ferretti. We hired a chief
of operations from AgustaWestland,
a helicopter manufacturer in Italy.
Aviation is a less-spoiled environment
than yachting and you need to be
stricter in terms of quality control.
Obviously, you can’t have parts fail on
an aircraft. We’ve
seen some positive
fallout from aviation
into out boating
business because of
that.Q How are Ferretti’s
suppliers doing
these days? There
was a time when
many weren’t happy with the Group.
A During the crisis years, most of our
vendors were Italian companies that
lost 60% to 70% of their revenues.
Sometimes quality suffered. We’ve
seen a turnaround in the situation for
many vendors. Our order intake for
the first three quarters of this year
was up 57% compared to the previous
year, so we experienced a normal
production cycle. I’m happy to say
our vendors, who were paid on time,
delivered quality products on time.
The average delay for new boats was
only two days. At our meeting with our
Italian suppliers in early December,
we stressed that our vendors need to
become more than vendors. They need
to become our partners.Q How about Ferretti management?
Has there been a sizable turnover?
A We’ve got a fantastic team in
place now. We brought in all new
managers. Our team is young, hungry
and motivated. I’m not afraid to
surround myself with young people,
both men and women, as the future
management of this company.
Lamberto Tacoli at CRN is the only