MasterCraft buys pontoon boat maker for $US80m

US-based wave and ski boat maker MasterCraft has celebrated a record year of sales by buying out another lifestyle-based business, pontoon boat builder Crest.

The deal has cost MasterCraft $US80 million ($A113 million), but the extra spend was offset by the company increasing its sales by more than 16 percent, with profit almost doubling as a result.

The purchase follows last year’s acquisition of centre console fishing boats maker NauticStar for the same price as MasterCraft has paid for Crest.

“We’re nearing our one-year anniversary of welcoming NauticStar to the MasterCraft family,” Terry McNew, the chief executive of Mastercraft owner MCBC Holdings, said. “In that time, we’ve leveraged our industry-leading strengths in operational excellence and financial management to further improve NauticStar’s output, quality and margin.

“Daily production volume is up and we’ve made strides in improving both safety and quality,” McNew said.

“Retail activity with regard to MasterCraft strengthened throughout fiscal 2018, resulting in improved dealer inventory turns and the largest June retail sales in MasterCraft’s history.

“This sets the stage for continuing healthy dealer inventory levels and activity in fiscal 2019.

Michigan-based Crest builds luxury pontoon boats, the so-called loungerooms on water, which it sells mainly in North America. Its high-end models are powerful enough to pull a water skier. They can also come partially stripped out to double as fishing platforms.

MasterCraft launched its latest range of boats in Australia late last year, including the all-new MasterCraft XStar wakeboard boat featuring an innovative hull design and carrying the claim it could create the brand’s “biggest, baddest” wake, and the XT22, a new addition to the brand’s crossover range of boats that can tackle wakeboard, ski and surf tasks with all the family in tow.