Sanlorenzo: Topping up the yacht
Now that the average customer propping up the saloon bar has become an expert on the geopolitical significance of the Strait of Hormuz with particular reference to the cost of filling up the Ford Cortina, it is heartening to discover that there is a slice of the economy that continues to rise above such mundane concerns.
Italian superyacht maker Sanlorenzo’s share price was less than €10 at the start of Covid, but it soon shot up with the realisation that a 74m yacht is pretty much unbeatable for a bit of social distancing.
Superyacht sales surged after the pandemic, and Sanlorenzo’s revenues hit €960m last year out of a global market that is estimated at €25bn.
The company builds just 70 yachts a year, and prices average out at a reasonable €12.5m. But if you don’t want to be laughed out of the harbour in St Barth’s, you had better be looking at something like the 74Steel, with a ticket price north of €100m.
Good news for locals who are keen to dip a toe into these rarified waters is that the V&A Waterfront is investing R230m to build a superyacht marina as part of the wider Granger Bay precinct expansion. This will provide berths for yachts up to a handy 90m long and is expected to offer an appealing alternative destination as the Red Sea becomes a little lively and the Mediterranean ever more crowded.
Topping up the tank for the trip down might be getting a bit pricey, but the market seems able to cope.
Aston Martin: 007 hits the skids
It wouldn’t be hard to make a case for “Mamma Mia! Here we go again” as the theme tune for the beloved manufacturer of James Bond’s favourite wheels. During its long and storied history, the company has rarely seemed more than a quick gear change or two away from hitting the wall, notching up an impressive seven bankruptcies or near misses in its 112 years, including the latest rescue by a consortium led by Lawrence Stroll in 2020.
The profit warnings have been flying thick and fast, and the share price is languishing at 42p, some considerable distance from the £19 at which it listed back in 2018.
Credit investors have been scrambling to offload its debt, which has been trading around 75p on the pound, as the company charges towards a cash crunch that is likely to arrive at the end of the second quarter and which may require Aston to search for yet another white knight.
Aston Martin was hoping for a turnaround in its fortunes with the rollout of its hybrid supercar Valhalla, but this has taken longer than expected to achieve, and it is also taking a pasting from the tariff regime into the US.
It has been scrambling to raise money by selling its minority stake in the Formula One racing team as well as the rights for the F1 team to use its name. But at the end of the day, the economics of being a small, independent luxury manufacturer are always going to present challenges, and it may well find life considerably less stressful under the wing of a bigger organisation.
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