ibinews.com International Boat Industry | JUNE–JULY 2019 29
An aggressive diversification strategy has propelled
MasterCraft Boat Holdings to global success as a
multi-brand boatbuilder focused on growth markets
“WE'RE A VERY different company these days,” says Terry
McNew, president and CEO at MasterCraft Boat Holdings Inc.
“Seven years ago we were just MasterCraft Boats, very small
and essentially break-even at the bottom line. Today, we’re
MasterCraft, we’re Crest pontoon boats, we’re NauticStar
outboard saltwater boats, and now we have Aviara, our luxury
lifestyle brand. Our market cap is just under US$500m and we’re
a much stronger, more vibrant company in every way.”
While such talk could easily be dismissed as arrogant
boasting, not so when it comes from McNew. The former CEO
of Correct Craft and more recently, executive vice president,
manufacturing and quality for Brunswick’s Recreational Boat
Group, McNew has seen a lot of boat companies come and go
since he started out in the industry, operating a chopper gun
at Sea Ray in 1988. Holder of a BSBA in economics from the
University of Central Florida and certified as a Six Sigma black
belt by the University of Tennessee, his first priority upon
assuming the top job at MasterCraft was to implement an
aggressive growth strategy founded on product diversification
and market development.
“When we went public we went out with a multi-prong
approach,” says McNew. “Number one was to continue to
invest in new product development in MasterCraft, and
number two was to identify appropriate strategic acquisition
opportunities. We wanted to own a leading brand in each of
the three fastest-growing categories in the boating industry.
The fastest-growing segment was towboats for watersports,
and MasterCraft was already the market share leader there.
The second fastest-growing category was aluminium
pontoons. We acquired Crest, which is number seven out of
103 manufacturers in that segment. Saltwater fishing is the
third fastest-growing segment, and NauticStar has a leading
share there. More recently, we introduced Aviara as a market
leader in the fast-growing luxury day boat category.”
MasterCraft raised eyebrows when it acquired the Crest
and NauticStar brands in the face of major competition. “We
purchased NauticStar a little over 18 months ago, and we
purchased Crest a little over six months ago,” says McNew.
“We were not the highest bidder for either one of those
acquisitions. That surprises people, but for us, the purchases
were more about fit, and upholding the legacy that the
original owners had built into those brands. The businesses
were founded by passionate entrepreneurs who poured
everything into them. Respecting their core values was
extremely important to us, and to them.”
As the company invested in developing and diversifying
its product mix, it simultaneously began to expand its global
footprint. “For MasterCraft, right now somewhere between
70% and 80% of our sales come from the US domestic
market,” says McNew. “Of the balance, around half would
come from Canada, and half from the rest of the world.”
McNew notes that MasterCraft product is currently sold
in 46 countries. “We probably have a larger international
presence than any of our competitors in the performance
sport boat category,” he says. “But we’re also growing the
distribution channel for Crest and NauticStar, and that will
remain a focus. There is a detailed and multi-faceted growth
strategy in place for each of the brands. Fishing is near-
universal, so there are opportunities for NauticStar, and I think
we've added 15 points of distribution at Crest in the seven
months that we've owned them.”RIDING A WAVE
MasterCraft's NXT20 has
sold well with entry-level buyers Terry McNew,
president and CEO
of MasterCraft Boat
Holdings Inc Towboats for watersports is the industry's fastest-growing segment NauticStar 227 XTS