Fairline Yachts laid off a hundred workers just two weeks after new owners took over

The UK’s third-biggest luxury motorboat builder, Fairline Yachts, has – not surprisingly by a number of industry observers – collapsed into administration after being acquired by new investors early last month. Sky News is understood to have been the first source to break the news.

Early in December, Fairline Yachts was acquired for an undisclosed sum by Arrowbolt Propulsion Systems, a company officially set up on December 3, 2024, according to Companies House, the UK business register. Arrowbolt describes itself as a “clean propulsion technology company”. It is owned by Zeyaad Ahmed, a member of a family that has formerly been associated with the Fairline brand. The Ahmed family also owns Fletcher Boats and, according to Peter Hamlyn who was appointed Fairline Yachts CEO, the long-term vision was to turn Fairline into a clean and sustainable marine brand.

With its build facility in Oundle, Northamptonshire, plus a delivery base in Ipswich, Fairline Yachts entered into administration following insolvency proceedings after DF Capital, the company’s main lender, triggered the appointment of Alvarez & Marsal as administrators. Just two weeks after the change of ownership, Fairline Yachts made redundant over 100 workers, which is 25% or more of its 400-strong workforce. IBI understands that no further redundancies are anticipated as a result of the administration.

The Sky News report quotes a comment from Michael Magnay, joint administrator to Fairline Yachts Limited, saying:

“The business is continuing to trade as usual. We are thankful for the support and understanding of staff and there are no redundancies at this time. We are actively pursuing a sale of the business and are confident of a substantial amount of interest given the recognised brand and strong heritage. We encourage interested parties to make contact with us.”

After his appointment, Hamlyn said in a comment to BBC East:

“We look forward to aligning the business with our long-term vision to be a clean and sustainable marine brand. The industry faces a number of economic and market challenges and we will be assessing the current business before making any long-term investment decision.”

Prior to the Arrowbolt acquisition, Fairline Yachts was owned by the Luxembourg-based private equity Hanover Active Equity Fund 11 SCAV. No details were released about the sale price, but Hanover is known to have invested an estimated £65m, including at least £8.8m in 2024. As of late November, Fairline told IBI that its order book totalled about 90 boats and extended into Q1 2026 with a value of about £100m. The company was said to consistently have between 18 to 22 boats in manufacture at any one time, from 33ft to 68ft. Fairline Yachts did not participate in the boot Düsseldorf show held last week but instead was due to hold a Winter Showcase in Mallorca to coincide with the German event.

In financial terms, the situation Fairline Yachts faces is a significant one – in the 2023 fiscal year it experienced a reduced turnover of £42.1m as against £48.8m in the previous year. This resulted in a loss for Fairline Yachts Holding Ltd of £27.5m for 2023 compared to £20.7m for 2022. Without knowing the terms of the sale by Hanover to Arrowbolt, it is difficult to judge how things stand. It is considered possible that Hanover wrote off a sizable amount of the investment it had put into Fairline since it acquired the brand in 2021.

Source: IBI News