Luxury yacht revamps put GVG on the crest of a wave
Billionaires are still keen to spruce up their superyachts despite the coronavirus outbreak.
Luxury yacht painter and refitter GYG said there had been no cancellations since the outbreak and that it has a record order book of £39m.
Calm seas: Billionaires are still keen to spruce up their superyachts despite the coronavirus outbreak
Shares in the AIM-listed firm, which is based in the Mediterranean island of Majorca, rose 6 per cent after it swung to a profit of £800,000 in 2019.
The company had slumped to a £4.2m loss the year before after a drop in orders. Revenues rose 42 per cent in 2019 to £58m.
It pays off for the ultra-rich to take care of their boats with paint jobs and refits – many will want to sell them in the future and sometimes there are insurance requirements to keep them maintained to preserve their value.
GYG has a customer base of around 2,500 oligarchs, tycoons and billionaires including Alexander Abramov, the chairman of Russian steel firm Evraz, whose 223ft yacht with dive room, beach club and garage it repainted in 2016.
The firm is operating at about 90 per cent capacity at the moment. There was some disruption earlier in lockdown, which led to the two-week suspension of projects in Spain, the UK and France.
The Global Yachting Group was created in 2012 through the merger of the superyacht painting brands, Pinmar and Rolling Stock.