Another Ferretti Goes Down...

[spartonboat1]

This time it is the Ferretti corporation. FT (1/6/10) reports that Ferretti has defaulted on its loans. This was in an article on Fairchild yacht builder in the UK, who is hanging in there ok. It wasn't clear on the status of the Ferretti corp as a whole. All I know...

 

[mike]

I guess this should be no surprise given their buying binge of the past few years. Just another example of an over leveraged and misguided corporate roll-up strategy. They have too many product lines with their accompanying factories and overhead, resulting in very little economies of scale and no real purchasing power. You can bet in this market that none of their factories have critical mass, let alone breaking-even. In this climate small, smart, focused and nimble is critical to survival.

 

[spartonboat1]

My mantra during the IMHO really bad downturn, '81-'82, after Jimmah Cahtah was POTUS "First cut fat, then cut muscle, and...then throw bones away (ouch)..."

 

[tpld3]

Wasn't it last year that Ferretti defaulted on its loans?

 

[spindrift]

A couple of years ago Ferretti took a run at buying Hinckley. I have a couple of friends who are brokers at Hinckley and I advised them at the time that they would need to trim up a bit, learn how to chain smoke, get a better hair stylist, and buy multiple sets of black suits, and black shirts all in an effort to move from a Downeast Swamp Yankee look to the more sophisticated Capri look.

Fortunately for us all the purchase never took place. My friends still wear their khakis and blazers around town. They have retained their prosperous appearance and do not chain smoke.

Cheers
Spin