Berthon has a fascinating history and the Shipyard site is actually mentioned as far back as Domesday Book in the eleventh century. Berthon has been trading continuously since 1877 and the fifth generation of the May family now own and run the business today. Previously, the Inmans Shipyard, as it was then named, built the Arrow, Alarm and Lulworth, three contenders for the very first America’s Cup. They were beaten by America in 1851 and, of course, the rest is history.
Pontoon at Lymington Marina
Later, in 1917, HG May purchased Berthon from the Reverend Berthon and moved the business from nearby Romsey to the (Inmans) Lymington Shipyard in order to expand the collapsible lifeboat business to build sail and motor craft. Since those early days the business has grown: probably the first semi-production yachts in the world, the Gauntlet class of cruising yachts, were built at the yard in the 1930s, as well as a number of well-known cruising, racing and motor yachts.
Berthon also developed its Lymington Marina in the 1960s. Today it comprises a successful boatyard employing around 80 skilled craftsmen on the shop floor, an apprentice training programme recognised with two national awards last year, the marina and the sales division with offices in the UK, France and the US.
Maybe one day the Berthon book will be written!
We asked Sue to give a bit of personal background … and also asked her how she fared as a female MD in a male dominated industry.
“I moved to Berthon from the West Country where I was selling yachts twenty years ago and soon after became Managing Director of the sales division. I have family living in Lymington and so I have enjoyed my time here where I pretty much have carte blanche to carry out any new ideas, having first discussed them with my fellow directors.
Berthon Managing Director Sue Grant
“The fact that I am a female MD may be an interesting point to some readers but, funnily enough, I have never really had any particular issues with being one in a male dominated environment, especially since in the last few years many top names in the sport are female. Curiously we have met or dealt with most at some point. We sold Tracey Edwards’ Maiden quite a few times; we were involved with Dee Caffari’s single-handed round the world challenge having sold all of Chay Blythe’s Challenge fleet. Also, we must not forget that behind every great man there is an even greater woman, and we generally sell the types of yachts that great men like to sail off into the blue yonder with their wives and families aboard! Finally, the indomitable Jennifer Stewart now manages Berthon USA from Newport RI.”
There has been a brokerage operation at Berthon for many years with the first record of the sales division from 1935. Over the past fifteen years the business has grown enormously, from a business with three brokers selling twenty yachts a year to one which has offices in three countries and sells around 200 yachts annually with an average value of about £315,000. Berthon also distributes Windy – the luxury offshore open power cruisers built in Scandinavia – in the UK and France.
Sue believes that company success has been based on three things. “The first is that we are part of the Berthon Group which has no bank debt and as such is totally financially secure. The second is that we believe in specialisation – in other words we believe that clients need to speak to people who are very informed about the type of yacht that they are looking at. Therefore, we have cruising yacht brokers, motor yacht brokers, a dedicated performance/raceboat broker and brokers who deal with new and second hand Windys. Because the sales division works as a team, clients can be sure that they are always talking to the most informed person about the yacht that they are interested in. Yacht owners know that the Berthon broker handling their yacht will understand her in detail and do the best possible job in marketing her. Uniquely, our brokers are paid decent salaries and share in the profits. Hence we have a stable and solid team.
“The third of our strengths is the strategic alliances that we have within the industry. Good examples of this are Discovery Yachts, where we are their preferred broker, Richard Baldwin Yachts who handle our interests in Hamble, and Red Ensign down in Falmouth. We know which yachts we are good at selling and often recommend owners to other brokerage houses when we feel we are unable to help, and this works both ways. Many of the superyacht brokers recommend Berthon as a professional house to sell their client’s yacht prior to embarking into the superyacht world. Our business is about people and by partnering with people that we trust and admire we have been able to grow the business.”
We asked Sue what were the biggest changes she had witnessed in the industry and the biggest challenges in today’s market.
The impressive sheds at Berthon
“Of course the internet has been the biggest change in our industry, making the business much more international and enabling us to deliver information quickly and accurately. This is also our biggest challenge and remains so today. It has meant that standards have had to rise and that we have to work harder in a more competitive environment, which we regard as a good thing. Whilst currency fluctuation has always been an important element in deciding yacht value, almost of more importance is the ability to be nimble in interpreting the wider international market in order to give the best possible advice. With our Mediterranean office, our Scandinavian connections, our office in Newport and our many corresponding brokers worldwide, we have a very good insight in comparison with the more parochial local brokerage houses.
“Of course the highs and lows of the economic cycle have been interesting to manage. We believe that there are still big challenges ahead and that the new yacht market and this stall will continue to affect the brokerage market for a number of years. However, the much overused and old brokers’ saying that ‘good condition yachts correctly priced sell’, continues to be as true today as it ever was.”
The Berthon Collection of second-hand yachts at Lymington runs from 10th-19th September 2010 for the sixteenth year. Sue describes it as “a cornerstone of our marketing strategy in the UK.
“We wanted to stage on event for the sorts of yachts that we deal with concurrently with the Southampton Boat Show, and this event has grown over time. Of course our For Sale Area has developed since Collection 1 and we now have 3 x 220’ gantries enabling us to show yachts ashore on our ‘land marina’. The event is supported by our Collection catalogue which these days is accompanied by the Berthon lifestyle magazine and both are mailed to the entire Berthon mailing list of around 25,000. This gives good coverage for the event and for the yachts participating. This year we will be showing Atalanta, a 83.5 Feadship fully restored at Dorr Lemmer which is joining us from the South of France. We also have the iconic Gipsy Moth IV, a brace of Discovery 55s and the Volvo 70 Kosatka, amongst many other great yachts. Every year we are pleased to welcome some stunning yachts, and have been successful in finding new owners for them”.
