BRETT Martin's ambitious attempt to build a major Western Australian manufacturing and retail empire has ended with voluntary administrators appointed to sell the boatbuilding assets of his Trailcraft Australia.
BRETT Martin's ambitious attempt to build a major Western Australian manufacturing and retail empire has ended with voluntary administrators appointed to sell the boatbuilding assets of his Trailcraft Australia.
Built around a boating focus, Trailcraft had also embraced caravan manufacture at its peak about two years ago when it employed around 200 staff.
Since then, the business has been steadily whittled away as it succumbed to growth pressures and difficulties in making the business model work outside its home state, before finally feeling the impact of the global financial crisis.
Before it ceased manufacturing the business employed about 40 staff. It is currently on care and maintenance with a skeleton workforce.
It is understood the business was funded by Mr Martin's family, which includes his high profile father Archie Martin, a former leading retailer.
Administrators from Ferrier Hodgson have put the assets of the business up for sale, including plant and equipment, inventory, dealership contacts and goodwill.
Mr Martin, a WA Business News 40under40 Award winner in 2006, remains a director and part-owner of Saltwater Marine in South Fremantle, the original business he operated before buying the then niche Trailcraft boat builder, a 20-year-old company that operated out of the Henderson industrial precinct.
When he bought Trailcraft earlier this decade in a move to vertically integrate the sector, it produced about 80 boats a year, mainly for the WA market.
Mr Martin transformed the operation to make 1,000 boats a year selling through a strong dealer network nationwide.
From an accompanying trailer production business it was a natural progression into caravans, a sector which has undergone phenomenal growth with increasing numbers of retirees taking to the roads.
The caravan business was closed down about two years ago and the assets were purchased by Gary and Matthew Roper. They now make Trailstar caravans, operating out of the previous premises, also in Henderson.
Saltwater Marine general manager Michael Eldrid said there were a number of potential buyers for the business, which he expected to continue under new ownership.
"Trailcraft is not about to fall off the side of the earth," Mr Eldrid said.
"There are still boats in stock.
"Once new ownership is negotiated the dealerships will continue."
Mr Eldrid said Trailcraft's move into retail, with five stores branded as Trailcraft World, was a significant factor in the deterioration of the manufacturing business because it was very expensive and undermined the independent dealer network which sold the bulk of the boats nationally.
Those stores have either been closed or sold and rebranded.
"He decided to take on the world and set up Saltwater Marine [style] stores," Mr Eldrid said.
"It was a brave, bold and gutsy move that could have gone either way,"
Boat buyers were active as late as November, the Saltwater Marine executive said, before slumping badly due to the global financial crisis.
Currently, the second-hand market remains strong in the smaller traditional boating market that Saltwater Marine operates in.
Mr Martin could not be reached for comment.
