There’s nothing like the corporate PR process for putting an acquisition into perspective. The 41-year-old Boat International magazine itself this month announced it had “become part of Informa Group’s portfolio of specialist media brands”. But – for all the glamour of a glossy magazine that has charted the growth of superyachts and attracted the funding of well-heeled individuals precariously mixing business with pleasure – the change of ownership did not even make it to the Informa website.
So, while journalists on the self-styled “global authority in superyachting” were getting excited about being part of the world’s largest events business (which happens also to organise many of the leading boat shows), the acquisition was described by Informa insiders as “a small addition”.
It’s a come-down from Boat International’s last foray into the financial gossip columns when it was acquired by prominent UK investors including Peter Dubens (tech entrepreneur and Time Out backer), Charles Dunstone (Carphone Warehouse co-founder) and Tara Getty (grandson of the oil baron). Successive deals tell the story of a magazine company which was acquired 20 years ago by Henderson private equity for an estimated £17mn, sold to August Capital two years later for £29mn, acquired by Dubens et al for £12mn and now sold to Informa, probably for no gain.
The erratic financials have been punctuated by regular cash injections, breached banking covenants and debt-for-equity swaps. Despite successive investments in print, digital and events – and net liabilities that totalled £5.5mn in 2022 – the vibrant Boat International Media Group (BIMG) has seldom been profitable, on revenue that has increased by just 29% in the past six years. But there have been some signs of promising growth in digital (now 25% of revenue). Its 2022 revenue of £14.1mn was the highest since 2008 and – promisingly – was achieved with advertising now less than 50% of the total.
| Boat Int. £mn SnapShot | 2023* | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
| Revenue | 14.6 | 14.1 | 8.4 | 8.5 | 12.6 | 11.3 |
| UK | 23% | 18% | 16% | 19% | 18% | |
| EU | 34% | 31% | 45% | 43% | 50% | |
| RoW | 43% | 51% | 39% | 38% | 32% | |
| EBITDA | 0.6 | 0.3 | — | — | 0.7 | 0.6 |
| Headcount | 70 | 58 | 56 | 51 | 62 | 58 |
The BIMG portfolio includes: BoatPro, the £1.9k subscription data service, digital boats for sale, the B2B brand International Boat Industry (acquired in 2021 for £1.3mn) and a clutch of awards events, network communities and books. The data-rich Informa may have been attracted by the six-year-old BoatPro which tracks 12,000 superyachts and claims to reach more than 6,000 “ultra high net worth” individuals – 38% in North America and 15% in the UK.
But you can see how Boat International – a shiny magazine famed for boat show parties – has beguiled boat-loving entrepreneurs who have paid the price for being deflected from their traditional focus on revenue and profit. They were, presumably, dazzled by a global boom in the sales of superyachts after the merest few months of Covid slowdown. And the boats keep getting bigger, with the world’s largest superyacht (194.4 metres in length, no less) now under construction in Norway. While Italy remains the world’s largest builder of superyachts (the US is the biggest buyer) Turkey is second with 132 superyachts under construction – 40% ahead of last year.
BIMG’s newish emphasis on data follows a decade of trying to capture luxury advertising, not least with claims that the magazine’s readers include 10% of the world’s billionaires. It was, after all, originally launched in 1983 by a Brit who published luxury magazines for Rolls Royce owners. That initially helped to create an advertising pedigree for clocks, cars and cigars, but it didn’t last. Development of Boat International as a brand across digital, events as well as print came in 2004 when it was acquired by Henderson as part of a management buy-in led by former EMAP magazine executives Tony Harris and David Joseph.
Nine years later, along came Dubens, Dunstone and Getty. The upshot was a glossier-than-ever magazine with a renewed focus on owners, their yachts and luxury, together with those claims about billionaire readers and a digital audience of some 1mn.
The financials (above) tell the story of that fateful dive back into the pool of magazine-centric luxury advertising dominated by Condé Nast. But Boat International’s recent revenue growth – even as superyacht sales are slowing as part of a post-pandemic hangover – owes much to the new emphasis on data and business information.
That’s where Informa comes in.
The £3.5bn-revenue, listed UK company whose primary business is trade shows, information services and academic publishing has always seemed to have a guilty secret: its ownership of the Monaco Yacht Show, described by The Guardian as “one of the greatest concentrations of wealth in the world…the ultimate gathering of maritime luxury”. Think Cannes Lions for the international boating industry.
The show had launched in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union which was paving the way for hyper growth in the megayacht sector. This year, its the 33rd anniversary in September and Monaco’s Port Hercule will again be transformed into a 500-exhibitor exhibition and a fleet of some 120 superyachts including many of the world’s new launches and yachts for sale; many have submersibles and swimming pools. Visitors pay anything up to €1,860 for the privilege of viewing superyachts that can be bought or chartered, sometimes from sanctioned Russians.
But that’s not the guilty secret.
The trade show organiser – which is notably committed to sustainability – might not be too worried by assertions that the carbon footprint of the ultra-rich is inflated by giant yachts, private jets and sports cars with engines that burn barrels of oil. But you have to search hard in Informa promotional material and websites to find much about the gilded Monaco show.
Maybe that’s because it’s a largely consumer event (albeit a very upmarket one) – not the B2B type that comprise most of the company’s portfolio. But the company may also be sensitive about its sheer profitability, albeit after years of scarcely breaking even. The Monaco Yacht Show is believed to have revenue of some £15-20mn with a likely profit margin of at least 40%. While it is not known how much of the profit goes directly to Informa (as opposed to its joint venture partner, the Principality of Monaco) that level of profitability might rankle in an industry of notoriously slender margins for boatbuilders and brokers.
In some ways, the limited exposure of Informa’s boat show activity is more curious because the company acquired five of the world’s largest in-water boat shows including the pre-eminent Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show (with 100,000 attendees) for $133mn in 2017. The deal (which included two events that, by 2021, each had £20mn+ revenue) was said to make Informa the world’s leading yacht show organizer. But the boat shows have remained shrouded online in the company’s Maritime and Logistics portfolio – even though they might account for £110mn of revenue – at least 8% of the company’s total exhibitions.
Although the Boat International group will, characteristically, be managed independently of Informa’s boat show portfolio (at least for now) the parent company may see the BoatPro data service as being fundamental to its future. It might be the stepping stone in a strategy to combine with the US-based Boats Group LLC, a classified marketplace which was acquired by Permira private equity for an estimated $850mn in 2021 (4x what APAX pe had paid four years previously).
The $100mn-revenue group claims some 10mn monthly visitors, principally across UK, EU and the US, on its web sites, apps and social media outlets which are translated into 13 languages. The Florida-based company provides 4,000 boat brokers and dealers with “a comprehensive suite of technology-based marketing and software solutions, enabling them to effectively reach consumers, improve their overall profitability, and manage their operations”. It also provides high-value information services to its B2B members. Its key brands are: YachtWorld, Boat Trader, boats. com, Cosas De Barcos, Annonces du Bateau, and Botentekoop. In 2021, the former Dominion Marine Media was believed to have revenue of $75mn – almost doubled in five years and with a profit margin of 40-50%. More than 65% of the revenue is believed to come from paying members.
Informa’s combination of its marine business with Boats Group would create a global information and events market leader with revenue of some £200-250mn ($260-325mn) and scope for growth, especially in B2B workflow data, research and consulting. The sprightly UK listed company (now rebounding strongly from the pandemic paralysis of trade shows) may not have decided whether it would be a buyer, seller or mere shareholder of a global boats business: in previous deals, Informa has become an M&A wizard by raising cash and also retaining valuable shareholdings.
Perhaps its 2024 tech merger deal with the $1bn Nasdaq-listed TechTarget will inspire a glittering IPO in the US for an enlarged superyacht-centric group – and another big gain from a corner of Informa’s rich portfolio.
