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. Later, in 1917, HG May purchased Berthon from the
Berthon B
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. “The fact that I am a female MD may be an interesting point to some readers but, funnily enough, I have never really
12 YACHTWORLD.COM SepTeMbeR 2010
Managing Director Sue Grant has been heading up sales at Berthon for close on 20 years. We talk to Sue about Berthon’s history, her role in the company and the successes over the decades.
erthon 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
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
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