Sale's are down

[groundloop]

Well, at least the economy's not all gloom and doom. I work for a company in the telecommunications industry, our business is picking up. It sucked for a while, but late last year the FCC announced an initiative to bring high speed internet into smaller communities, via tax credits. Our plants have been busy the past few months, and they should pick up even more this year. This is a pretty big deal, because the people we buy materials and equipment from are getting more business, and obviously the companies we sell product to are busy.

I know the economy has sucked for about two years now, but all signs point to things picking up. It just takes time. The stock market is usually on top of how things are going, take a look back and it started to tank in early 2008, but has been steadily climbing since last March. Unfortunately for the boat building industry it sounds like people are taking their time before investing in new toys.

 

[Chris]

Well, at least the economy's not all gloom and doom. I work for a company in the telecommunications industry, our business is picking up. It sucked for a while, but late last year the FCC announced an initiative to bring high speed internet into smaller communities, via tax credits. Our plants have been busy the past few months, and they should pick up even more this year. This is a pretty big deal, because the people we buy materials and equipment from are getting more business, and obviously the companies we sell product to are busy.

I know the economy has sucked for about two years now, but all signs point to things picking up. It just takes time. The stock market is usually on top of how things are going, take a look back and it started to tank in early 2008, but has been steadily climbing since last March. Unfortunately for the boat building industry it sounds like people are taking their time before investing in new toys.

Good to hear!

I think once things stabalize and people become more optomistic, things like boats, recreational items and other discretionary segments of the economy will rebound.

-Chris

 

[john lamon]

I guess I have been lucky when it comes to the economy, things aren't that bad is Saskatchewan, the company I haul trailers for has never been busier, they sell enclosed and open trailers, we have been affected by the economy because are main supplier (H&H) in Iowa went bankrupt in august and at the time we had over 60 custom ordered trailers that were sold that we couldn't get, as you can imagine we had some unhappy customers, we also had over 250 trailers on are lot that we had to warranty if we wanted to sell them.

We started hauling Mirage out of Nampa, Idaho and I'm seeing the same trend there, they have laid off too many people and cant build them fast enough to keep up with are demand, I just had 3 weeks off at Christmas not because we aren't busy, there was nothing built to pick up, I have heard some good news that in a few weeks I will start going to Goshen, Indiana for loads, I'm not even sure what brand of trailer they are, I think that's not far from CM so maybe I can detour one trip and pick up an interior.

All I no is I'm spending as much $ as I can to keep the economy going
so go and spend some money!!!

 

[Chris]

I guess I have been lucky when it comes to the economy, things aren't that bad is Saskatchewan, the company I haul trailers for has never been busier, they sell enclosed and open trailers, we have been affected by the economy because are main supplier (H&H) in Iowa went bankrupt in august and at the time we had over 60 custom ordered trailers that were sold that we couldn't get, as you can imagine we had some unhappy customers, we also had over 250 trailers on are lot that we had to warranty if we wanted to sell them.

We started hauling Mirage out of Nampa, Idaho and I'm seeing the same trend there, they have laid off too many people and cant build them fast enough to keep up with are demand, I just had 3 weeks off at Christmas not because we aren't busy, there was nothing built to pick up, I have heard some good news that in a few weeks I will start going to Goshen, Indiana for loads, I'm not even sure what brand of trailer they are, I think that's not far from CM so maybe I can detour one trip and pick up an interior.

All I no is I'm spending as much $ as I can to keep the economy going
so go and spend some money!!!

Also glad to hear.

There has been a lot of forum members who have been hit pretty hard. Many haven't shared their stories on the open forums, but there is a number of them. A couple of them are my close friends.

All's we can do is say a little prayer for all of them and hope things pick up very soon.

-Chris

 

[senator-holland]

Well as you probably know, Mercury Marine is not an individual company on to itself, it's part of Brunswick Corporation. I suppose I should have said, that there was speculation that Brunswick might eventually go bankrupt, which Mercury Marine is a subsiduary of. And bankrupt as in chapter 11.

I think the speculaton at the time was, that "if" Brunswick Corporation's poor results continued, that it might eventually lead Brunswick to enter Chapter 11. I guess at that point, almost anything might have been possible.

The bottom line is that things weren't too good at Brunswick back in late '08, when their stock was hovering around $2 per share, down from $50 bucks per share in '05, giving them a market cap of about 175 million and their credit status was graded by Moody's as "junk" status.

-Chris

well buy shares now for that 12 dollar and sell it later. higest point shares was dec 2004 49.50 dollar. so i geuss a 100% profit is a serious option with this low volume. 24dollar sell.

Brunswick Corp(BC)
12.00 -0.77 -6.03%
Open: 12.63 High: 12.72 Low: 11.84

Previous Close: 12.77 Volume: 1,029,972

Eastern Time

 

[john lamon]

Also glad to hear.

There has been a lot of forum members who have been hit pretty hard. Many haven't shared their stories on the open forums, but there is a number of them. A couple of them are my close friends.

All's we can do is say a little prayer for all of them and hope things pick up very soon.

-Chris

Chris, I wish your friends and everybody else the very best in this tough time, I hope things will pick up for them eventually

 

[Chris]

well buy shares now for that 12 dollar and sell it later. higest point shares was dec 2004 49.50 dollar. so i geuss a 100% profit is a serious option with this low volume. 24dollar sell.

Brunswick Corp(BC)
12.00 -0.77 -6.03%
Open: 12.63 High: 12.72 Low: 11.84

Previous Close: 12.77 Volume: 1,029,972

Eastern Time

helmich, did you go through Brunswick's finanical reports at all?

They do break out the different divisions and how much each made. If you like, I can find the P&L numbers and post the interesting ones if you like. From what I remember, the Merc engine division has lost money the last three quarters, the fourth they haven't reported on yet. And I think the boat division was the same.

-Chris

 

[senator-holland]

helmich, did you go through Brunswick's finanical reports at all?

They do break out the different divisions and how much each made. If you like, I can find the P&L numbers and post the interesting ones if you like. From what I remember, the Merc engine division has lost money the last three quarters, the fourth they haven't reported on yet. And I think the boat division was the same.

-Chris

a post from EB:

"Brunswick Corp. is well-positioned to expand its market share and profitability as the recovery unfolds into 2011, said Tim Conder, a senior analyst with Wells Fargo Securities.




More... "


so when you have 2 years time with your savings. i don't say, buy it. but if you wanna buy something on the stockmarket, it is a share that is worth to have a closer look at. and that it is in the watersportmarket makes it more interesting. that is my piont of view.

 

[Mark]

Sales are way down in our area as well. We had a start up BRP dealer last year. He said the he sold some smaller Seadoo's but he has a fleet of Malibu wakeboard boats that are still on the lot.
Nevertheless, the industry is changing and the desire (eventually demand) is for wakeboard boats. All my buddies are talking about getting one as their next boat even if they don't wakeboard. It is just like how nobody is buying sports cars and everybody wants a crossover SUV. Many manufacturers are coming out with pickle fork deck boats that look like the Mastercraft X-Star.
I think the Checkmate BRX is a competitor but they need to do a I/O as well. You cannot just ignore trends and hope that the clock will turn back. It never does.

 

[john lamon]

I guess I have been lucky when it comes to the economy, things aren't that bad is Saskatchewan, the company I haul trailers for has never been busier, they sell enclosed and open trailers, we have been affected by the economy because are main supplier (H&H) in Iowa went bankrupt in august and at the time we had over 60 custom ordered trailers that were sold that we couldn't get, as you can imagine we had some unhappy customers, we also had over 250 trailers on are lot that we had to warranty if we wanted to sell them.

We started hauling Mirage out of Nampa, Idaho and I'm seeing the same trend there, they have laid off too many people and cant build them fast enough to keep up with are demand, I just had 3 weeks off at Christmas not because we aren't busy, there was nothing built to pick up, I have heard some good news that in a few weeks I will start going to Goshen, Indiana for loads, I'm not even sure what brand of trailer they are, I think that's not far from CM so maybe I can detour one trip and pick up an interior.

All I no is I'm spending as much $ as I can to keep the economy going
so go and spend some money!!!

Good news for me, someone bought and opened H&H under the same name and from what I hear mostly the same people working there, they started production up again last monday so it looks like I will be heading to Iowa in the next few weeks.

 

[Jetmate]

Sales are way down in our area as well. We had a start up BRP dealer last year. He said the he sold some smaller Seadoo's but he has a fleet of Malibu wakeboard boats that are still on the lot.
Nevertheless, the industry is changing and the desire (eventually demand) is for wakeboard boats. All my buddies are talking about getting one as their next boat even if they don't wakeboard. It is just like how nobody is buying sports cars and everybody wants a crossover SUV. Many manufacturers are coming out with pickle fork deck boats that look like the Mastercraft X-Star.
I think the Checkmate BRX is a competitor but they need to do a I/O as well. You cannot just ignore trends and hope that the clock will turn back. It never does.

I agree. The market trends like that sometimes, and somtimes you have to go that way, at least until that trend fades away.

Funny thing, I was thinking about this post the other day, and came up with a way to make any Cmate hull perform like a wake board unit without changing the hull design, and not by adding weight or anything like that.

Kip, if you interested get in touch with me, Private message first, then if you think it will work I'll spill the beans.

Jet

 

[Weedo]

Pretty much all we did this last summer was wakeboard behind our old Checkmate! We're all "old" so we're not looking for 5 foot waves off the boat. But our 1600BR with a 115 on the back pulled me (6'3" 210lbs) and my buddy (6'4" 220lbs) out of the water without issue with 3 more on the boat.

One thing the Checkmate can do is pull skiers, tubers, wakeboarders AND rip down the water at 75+ mph (the new one, not the old 'Mate) . I wouldn't mind a wakeboard boat, but one that's under $10k and will do 70 will be tough to find. I agree though, it seems in my area, the wakeboard boats are the ones selling, and selling for over book (used).

 

[merc245]

Pretty much all we did this last summer was wakeboard behind our old Checkmate! We're all "old" so we're not looking for 5 foot waves off the boat. But our 1600BR with a 115 on the back pulled me (6'3" 210lbs) and my buddy (6'4" 220lbs) out of the water without issue with 3 more on the boat.

One thing the Checkmate can do is pull skiers, tubers, wakeboarders AND rip down the water at 75+ mph (the new one, not the old 'Mate) . I wouldn't mind a wakeboard boat, but one that's under $10k and will do 70 will be tough to find. I agree though, it seems in my area, the wakeboard boats are the ones selling, and selling for over book (used).

I made that exact choice 16 yrs ago!You can't speed with a skiboat but you can ski with a speed boat! And besides I don't think 16 yrs later I'd still have the same ole' ugly skiboat.Even now with the skis semi-retired I'm more happy with my choice than ever!