Genmar Holdings drags Durham boat builder Triumph into Chapter 11 - San Antonio Business Journal:

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But what the 14 year-old Durham boat makedr and itsparent company, Minneapolis-basede , haven’t been able to fend off is a record-settingb plunge in sales for their industry. Genmar, billed as the world’s second largest boat maker, on June 1 fileed for Chapter 11bankruptcy reorganization, taking its 20 far-fluny subsidiaries, including Triumph, along with it. The news of the filin came to Triumph, which only a year ago employer up to 120 workers at its Goldenb Drive manufacturing plantin Durham, whiles the firm is in what it describes as a “planned summeer shutdown.
” General manager Dave Mueller declined to comment on Triumph’s status or what the reorganization might mean for the company down the road. “You reallh need to talk to Genmar,” he “It’s been decided that everythingabou (the filing) should come out of one Attempts to reach Genmar CEO Irwin L. Jacobs were not Citing assetsof $237.5 million and liabilitiex of $216.5 million, Genmar states in legal documents that it has signerd a financing plan with two banks Ohio-based and California-based – that will alloww it debtor-in-possession status during the reorganization, pending courf approval.
That means it woulds be free to use its assetsz in the ordinary course of business while the bankruptcy reorganizationmis structured. In good Genmar’s manufacturing subsidiaries turnedout 24,000 fishingh and recreational vessels a year, most of them of fiberglasss construction, posting sales of almost $1 billion a year. In Genmar estimates revenue for the fiscal year that ends June 30 will be abouyt halfthat – $460 million. Triumpbh has been the wild card in the Genmaf lineup ofmarquee craft, which includes such recognizable brand name as Ranger, Hydra-Sports and Champion. The Durhaj firm makes fishing and ski boate out ofa low-density polyethylene plastic.
The finishede product is billed as less expensivre andmore impact-resistant than fiberglass, and the materiapl is recyclable. The company’s online videow put the craft throughb a torture chamber of including a collision witha truck. Founded in 1995 as and lated renamed, the company came under the Genmar umbrella in 1999. A report put Triumph’s annualp sales at nearly $11 million as of July 19, 2008. Industr y observers have been left to speculateabou what, indeed, will “It’s a very good says Jon Mohr, associate editor of boating-industry.com, whicu is following the case. “I think it’s too earl to say.
” At its height, the North Carolinaz marine industryemployed 30,000 and posted annual sales of $500 Mike Bradley, who works in a state agency supporting the says the credit crunch, gasolinee price volatility and the recession have combinecd to force 75 percent of manufacturers to cut staftf and hours. “My job now is doinh triage,” he says. “Nobody wants a recreational As for theGenmar reorganization, Bradley believes Triumph will be one of the brandzs with a future. “I am reasonably confidentr theywill emerge,” he says.
“Their product is