A Sentiment Poll by UK trade body, British Marine, which tracks quarterly sales performance and outlook among its members, has revealed 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 autumn boat shows.

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 per cent) than increase (29 per cent), 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 per cent to 38 per cent) has improved, although most businesses were still experiencing a decline in sales (44 per cent). This recovery has appeared to further stabilise in the latest quarter (Q2 2023), with an equal number of members seeing sales increase (39 per cent) as those that saw sales decrease (39 per cent), compared to the same period in 2022.

According to the poll, despite a challenging economic climate, British marine businesses overall are positive about the future, with 55 per cent reported that they were confident about their business’s current prospects when surveyed in June 2023. This represents a six-percentage point increase on the previous poll (December 2022: 49 per cent).

“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,” comments Lesley Robinson, CEO, British Marine.

“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.”

There is considerable variation across industry sectors, with manufacturing and boat servicing trades performing steadily due to the legacy of increased boat ownership stimulated by the pandemic, while tourism-related services have slowed as disposable income declines.

Key insights from the poll include:

• 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, while 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.

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