According to British Marine’s latest Sentiment Poll*, which tracks quarterly sales performance and outlook among British Marine members, the UK marine industry appears to have bounced back from a brief downturn in sales, providing a much-needed boost to business in advance of the Southampton International Boat Show in September.
The UK market hit a post-COVID sales peak in the summer of 2021, with boat and equipment sales reaching record levels in response to pent-up demand from consumers. Since then, sales growth gradually slowed as high inflation has cut into consumer confidence and spending. The market reached a low in Q4 2022, when, for the first time post-COVID, more British Marine members saw sales decrease (48%) than increase (29%), compared to the same period the previous year (Q4 2021).
However, since the start of 2023, the share of members seeing sales increases growing in Q1 (from 29% to 38%) has improved, although most businesses were still experiencing a decline in sales (44%). This recovery has appeared to further stabilize in the latest quarter (Q2 2023), with an equal number of members seeing sales increase (39%) as those that saw sales decrease (39%), compared to the same period in 2022.
Despite a challenging economic climate, which is still shaped by the impact of high inflation, high interest rates and issues affecting domestic and international supply chains, British marine businesses overall are upbeat about their prospects. 55% reported that they were confident about their business’s current prospects when surveyed in June 2023. This represents a 6-percentage point increase on the previous poll (December 2022: 49%).
However, there is considerable variation across industry sectors, with manufacturing and boat servicing trades performing steadily thanks to the legacy of increased boat ownership stimulated by the pandemic, while tourism-related services have slowed as disposable income declines:
- Boatbuilders remain buoyed by the influx of orders received during the pandemic, providing healthy future order books. However, since then enquiries have slowed down, and lingering supply chain issues are producing longer lead times for delivery of vessels.
- Boat dealers, overall, have seen sales fall back to 2019 levels. New boat sales have slowed down most, whilst demand in the used market has been more consistent. In general, higher value boats are performing best, due to the greater financial flexibility of customers in this market.
- Marinas continue to benefit from the full capacity reached during the pandemic and are enjoying relatively strong margins. However, they remain nervous of the longevity with which first-time boaters are going to store their boats and wary of the impact of slowing boat sales.
- Boatyard service providers are experiencing steady business, for now, with demand for hard-standing strong as is demand for specialised refit and repair services among wealthier boat owners. However, owners of smaller, lower value boats are delaying work due to high living costs.
- Following the covid boom, hire, charter and other boating tourism operators are facing some challenge this summer as consumers shy away from spending as much on leisure activities. The sector is also competing with pent-up demand for overseas holidays and non-marine leisure activities, which have also eroded their market.
“This latest sentiment poll suggests that the industry has narrowly avoided a recession, mirroring the performance of the wider British economy and businesses remain cautious about the next 12 months, as they face challenges surrounding inflation, supply chain disruption and post-Brexit trade disruption. However, it is encouraging, that despite a degree of uncertainty, not just for our industry but all businesses, over half of British Marine members, who responded to our Sentiment Poll are confident of their businesses current prospects,” commented Lesley Robinson, CEO, British Marine.
The full infographic report can be viewed here: Sentiment Poll – Q2 2023
*Note: British Marine’s Sentiment Poll was run from 13 June-11 July 2023 and received 185 responses or 20.0% of the total poll sample. Based on a confidence level of 95%, this provides a margin of error for these results of +/- 6.45%.
The sample for British Marine’s Sentiment Poll includes all eligible companies currently in membership and covers all industry sectors represented by British Marine. This includes boatbuilding, boat sales, equipment supply, marina and boatyard services, boating tourism and related consumer and business services.
