Boat International – September 2019

A game of two halves

rokershaverespondedpositively
tothesuperyachtindustry’shalf-
year(H1)results,shruggingoff
newsthatthefirsthalfof 2019
sawthelowestnumberofsalessince2016.
Atotalof 204 salesclosedonthebrokerage
marketinthefirstsixmonthsoftheyear,
downonthe 230 ofmid-2018andthe 217 ofH1
2017.Twobrokersarguedthatthebuoyancy
ofthemarketismoreevidentinthevalueof
salesthanthequantity.Anditistruethat
whilethenumberofsaleshasdecreased,the
combinedaskingpriceofsaleshascreptup,
from€1.83billioninmid-2018to€2.03billion
in2019.“Weshouldreallyconsiderthetotal
valueofsales–one150-metredealcanbe
worthasmuchasseventoten50-metrenew
builds,”saysY.COheadofsalesWillChristie.
BurgessbrokerHenryCraven-Smithagrees,
reportingthatthebrokeragehouseis“far
aheadofourtargets”thankstohigh-value
salessuchas85-metreLürssenAretiand
74-metreCRNCloud 9. However,such
big-tickettransactionsweredescribedas
“unicornsales”byNorthrop&Johnson
brokerCromwellLittlejohn,whowarned
againstfocusingonthe“falseimpression”of
overallsalevalue.“Oneortwobigsalescan
skewthenumbers,”hesays.
Explainingthedisappointingnumberof
salesnumbersinH1,thebrokersnotedthat
thefirsthalfoftheyearisusuallyslowerthan
thesecond.“Themajorsalesseasonisatthe
end of the year after the two major
internationalsuperyachtshowsinMonaco
andFortLauderdale,”Christiesays.Littlejohn
alsonotesthattheAmericanmarketwashit
byan“unexpecteddipintheUSstockmarket”
inthefirstquarter.
Allthreebrokerssharedanoptimismfor
therestof2019.Theypredictaninjectionof
fresh,good-qualityinventoryintothemarket,
promisingafineend-of-yearperformance.
“Theworstpointyoucangettoasa brokeris
tosellallthegoodinventory,butwe’vegota
goodpipelineahead,”Craven-Smithsays.

B

Salesmight be down for the

firsthalfof 2019, but brokers

remainconfident of a positive

yearend, says Miranda Blazeby

Infographics Valerio Pellegrini Research Raphael Montigneaux

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PRO

The first half (H1) of 2019, compared to H1 in previous years

Number

of sales

Total asking

price (€)

Total

LOA (m)

H1 2017 H1 2019

70m+

70m+

50-70m

50-70m

40-50m

40-50m

30-40m

30-40m

24-30m

24-30m

H1 2018

Average price (€) per GT

Average price (€) per metre

2016 2017 2018 2019

0

20k

300k

600k

900k

1.2m

1.5m

30k

40k

50k

206 217 230 204

7, 3 0 3 7, 5 4 9 7, 876 7, 2 9 8

1.66bn 1.83bn 1.83bn 2.03bn

44

09 2019