WOW...Triton a part of the Platinum Family AND...

[scottsweet]

This is pretty amazing news for one reason...All Triton fiberglass boats will be built in Flippin, AR at the Ranger plant!! The Ranger folks will have more jobs and that place will be rockin and rollin again!!




Breaking News
Brunswick Sells Triton To Platinum
Thursday, July 29, 2010




The pillars of bass fishing continue to shake with today's news that Brunswick Corp. sold its Triton Boats brand to Platinum Equity.

Platinum, which acquired the Ranger, Stratos and Champion brands at the Genmar bankruptcy auction in January of this year, now possesses two of the "big four" bass-boat brands.

The sale thus centralizes much of the current bass-tournament sponsorship under a single umbrella.

While Ranger has traditionally underwritten FLW Outdoors circuits, Triton has traditionally underwritten BASS circuits.

Prior to the Irwin Jacobs era of Ranger, the company as founded by Forrest Wood was closely aligned with BASS. Jacobs pulled Ranger away from involvement with BASS and industry experts now wait to see how the major Ranger and Triton sponsorships will shake out.

What the sale means for the future of tour and league sponsorship is certainly unclear. And the picture is even cloudier given current rumors that BASS will be sold in the coming days or weeks.

Sale Specifics

Brunswick today issued a news release announcing the sale.

The Triton brand was sold to Platinum subsidiary Fishing Holdings LLC.

Production of Triton fiberglass boats will be moved from Ashland City, Tenn. to Flippin, Ark. That means Ranger, Stratos and Champion fiberglass boats will all be manufactured at the Ranger plant in Flippin.

Lund fiberglass manufacturing will be moved to the Brunswick Boat Group's (BBG) Tellico fiberglass boat manufacturing facility in Vonore, Tenn., while Trophy fiberglass fishing boats will continue to be built in Ashland City through the remainder of the year as Brunswick "evaluates strategic alternatives for the brand."

Additionally, Brunswick will continue to build and sell Triton aluminum boats at its Lebanon, Mo. facility under license.

Brunswick's Mercury Marine unit will continue to supply motors to Triton and Fishing Holdings' other brands. There was no mention of exclusivity.

There was no mention in the release of Triton founder and current president Earl Bentz.

In the announcement, Brunswick chairman and CEO Dustan McCoy noted: "This decision was part of our ongoing strategic review to further refine our product portfolio and best focus our resources on those brands and marine segments that we believe are core to our success going forward. As such, Brunswick will maintain its leadership position in the recreational and fishing boat markets, with a strong presence in the freshwater and sportfishing segments as well as leading brands in the runabout/cruiser and yachts segments.

“These decisions, while strategic in nature, are never easy or without difficult consequences.â€

[Long Nguyen]

Wow....one corporation owning four brands, including two most popular. I don't know how I feel about this one.

[mark poulson]

Not to mention Brunswick leaving the people who work at their Ashland City, Tenn. plant high and dry.

"Trophy fiberglass fishing boats will continue to be built in Ashland City through the remainder of the year as Brunswick "evaluates strategic alternatives for the brand." "

That's corporate speak for get ready for the plant to close.

[Rick G]

Triton was losing money. That is why Bruswick sold it. Cant give away 18 ft boats with a 150 opti for 21k for long. At least BPS has clothing, fudge, and fish pillows to off set the Nitro give away [price increase for 2011 btw]. Folks all boats are petroleum products and as gas and resin go up so does pricing for the need to make a profit on their products. You have to make money to stay in business. Very hard to do these last few years in the marine industry. Would not be suprised to see Tritons in a few Cabela's stores soon. Rick G.

[big_gorilla]

What this means is the price of boats is going to go even higher. With the price of boats and the economy its no wonder why boat sales are down.

[Rick G]

Henry question for ya. Does the company that you work for lose money? If they do it wont be for long. For the folks that cannot afford new, there are always other options like, used, repo's and smaller aluminum models. Still keeps you and your family on the water. Ya, I would say prices are going up, because in my 30 years in this business they rarely ever go down. When people feel comfortable about spending again they will be back buying boats. Lots of different price ranges in new boats for people to choose from now with the PE brands. Rick G.

[senkoskipper]

Not sure who this really benefits. Sure the guys at the ranger plant will have more jobs but thats about it. It won't translate too well over to the sales side of the business. Think about it, besides tournament fisherman, a few wanna be pros, and a hand full of fishing guides, who buys a new bass boat? These are the same guys that have to have the new generation boat that comes out every 2 years. The market is just saturated with used rangers and tritons its not even funny. You might not see a lot of rangers/tritons saturated in California cuz its not really a bass friendly fishing state. But the states that are, they are a dime a dozen.

[big_gorilla]

Rick,

The company I work for is just like yours and any other company we are just trying to ride this wave in the hopes it gets better sooner than later.

I understand prices go up but with the rise in prices it means less people to afford them. The way to go these days is used. You can get a good used boat for a decent price.

Believe me I would love to own a new Ranger but can't afford one. I am completely happy with my boat. When I can afford one I know where to find you.

These boats are a luxury so I consider myself lucky to have one.

[GKramer]

I trust Rick's responses, given he's been on every side of the fence--including the post holes--during his career. Business really is hard work these days.

However, if the market were wide open in a robust economy, then maybe you could fear prices getting away while all those brands are under one roof. But for now, this is a survival move.

Still, even if prices were to go up, there are options--even with new products--not used. For all the claims that the BMW is better than a Honda, one of the things I still cherish is being able to make my own choice. So how the thing (house, car, boat) looks is a big part of why I buy. I'm not 15 anymore. It only has to be cool to me. In the end, if enough of the other things are about equal, I won't be pressured to buy what I don't want.

And even if it's brand X (or Z), I'll still be pretty hard to beat on the pond across the street.

[N.A.R]

Not sure who this really benefits. Sure the guys at the ranger plant will have more jobs but thats about it. It won't translate too well over to the sales side of the business. Think about it, besides tournament fisherman, a few wanna be pros, and a hand full of fishing guides, who buys a new bass boat? These are the same guys that have to have the new generation boat that comes out every 2 years. The market is just saturated with used rangers and tritons its not even funny. You might not see a lot of rangers/tritons
saturated in California cuz its not really a bass friendly fishing state. But the states that are, they are a dime a dozen.

From what I've seen it only takes contingency money to get these boats rolling off the sales floor

Pe needs to set up a tournament trail and boom done deal boats sold

[bigbass111]

I dont think we need any new trails to promote boats. We need the brands to promote current trails.

P.E could still have Triton support BASS and Ranger support FLW.

Either way, they win.....Right??

I have several very close friends with Triton and they are still in this. Fortunatly for a few of them they will still have their jobs, but a couple may not...

I feel for the people who lost on this....

P.E......in no question owns the market now, is that good???

We will wait and see..

Earl will still be in control of the brand, who knows what may happen in the future..

[bassmonkey]

Let's not forget that PE is aquiring distressed companies with the hopes of someday selling them and turning a profit. The only way this will happen is if they grow the brands by improving quality, reliability, desirability, and affordability. Fiberglass unit sales are on a steady decline, and lending is not getting any looser. Raising unit prices will only delay any type of turn around. The manufacturers have an astounding profit margin, while the dealer's margins are squeezed from every direction. I have never seen prices go down despite corporate downsizing (layoffs), plant conslodations, and more efficient manufacturing processes. As the repo and used boat market continues to dry up, along with the non current models in the pipeline, new boat sticker shock will prevent the average working family the ability to purchase and use a new boat. Most people cannot afford 50-70K cash for a new top of the line bass boat, so they finance it at 6-9% for 15 years. That new boat just cost 120K + not including insurance, maintenence, gas, and oil over the life of the loan. With a 20-30% depreciation after the first year, why would anybody buy new. Remember you have to have new boats first before you can have used ones available. If the larger models are not selling, which is where all of the profit margin is, then raising the prices on the "more affordable" (they never go down in price) smaller models is only going to further the marine industry's ride around the toilet bowl before it finally gets flushed. I do not see the aquistion(s) as good nor bad, it is simply the same old status quo that has contributed to the demise of the marine industry. Not trying to be negative, as I have spent most of my life in the boating industry. Something needs to change in a huge way if we are ever going to see the boating world thrive again. It will take years before we see any type of real economic recovery in this nation. Simply waiting for it to recover will not be enough as the rate of dealer attrition is higher than it has ever been. Change has to start with the manufacturers first. Petrolium products on the rise has been the excuse since the first boat was built. The bass boat market has almost priced itself out of existance. We are now seeing the ramifications. The mortgage crisis helped to create this mess as everybody was riding high on fake money. The more sales, the higher the prices maximizing profits. The only problem now is they have not self adjusted along with the economy. Stripping down a boat model, removing a layer of fiberglass so it will run with less horse power, and stacking it on a cheap trailer does make it easier to afford. The only problem is there is no money to made with those as you cannot give away 18 footers with 150's for too long. The tournament trails and touring pros have glorified the bass boat so much that people think anything less than a 20 footer with a 225hp simply will not do. Hmmm where is the profit margin? The manufacturers have been fighting themselves with prize boats and discount boats to pros for so long now they have saturated the market and damaged resale values accordingly (hence the 20-30% depreciation after the first year). I am all for companies making a profit but when will they realize they have priced themselves right out of the market they created? Hopefully PE can turn the industry around as they are now the new monopoly on the block. my .02$