Riviera invests in the future

Riviera chairman and owner Rodney Longhurst announced today (May 24) that his family will purchase Riviera’s 14-hectare state-of-the-art Coomera facility on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

It is the largest luxury boat building facility of its type in the Southern Hemisphere and the purchase of the property and all of its capital improvements will be completed before June 30.

When Mr Longhurst purchased Riviera on March 8, 2012, he agreed to a long-term lease with the option to buy the property.

Over the past 14 months, Mr Longhurst has been very focused on Riviera’s future and has placed a great deal of time into restructuring the business, reviewing all internal processes and procedures, investing in new model development, recruiting the right people for the right job, and growing Riviera’s team and talent.

Mr Longhurst said the purchase of the property truly cemented Riviera’s future in building boats in Australia, employing Australians and continuing to drive the company’s long-established export markets.

"Last financial year Riviera exported 56 per cent of its total production, which is a staggering result given the dollar was above parity during this period with the US and the overall impact of the GFC on the market globally," Mr Longhurst said.

"I believe in South East Queensland’s and Australia’s manufacturing future, which is why we have undertaken this considerable investment.

"Riviera’s Australian headquarters is unique to this part of the world and adds real strength to our brand as Australia is very much a part of the Riviera DNA, and by that I mean that Riviera boats are built for Australia’s harsh boating conditions, and they are built with great strength for whatever the elements try to throw at them. Our designs also incorporate the great Australian outdoors lifestyle, which means our boats tend to be bigger in internal volume, brighter and more airy and open.”

After visiting some of the world’s highly regarded boat building facilities, Mr Longhurst is confident the Riviera site compares favourably in terms of location, size and technology.

"What we have here gives us enormous potential to further grow and diversify the Riviera brand.  We have the capability to future-proof the company in terms of being able to create and build different types and sizes of boats and that really excites me,” Mr Longhurst said.

"I am also pleased to announce that Riviera has won the large exporter of the year award at the esteemed 2013 Australian Marine Industry Export Awards held on Tuesday night at the InterContinental Hotel at Sanctuary Cove.

"This is a fantastic achievement and I commend our 300 strong team who share my desire to create and build award-winning luxury boats.

"The purchase of this highly developed facility means we can focus on our international efforts as the global market recovers and continue doing what we do best -- creating the ultimate boating experience.

"Riviera has built and delivered more than 5000 luxury boats over its rich 33 year heritage and I look forward to being a part of building the next 5000 boats."