Luxury yacht manufacturer Grand Banks won five orders in the last quarter lifting its order book to $31.6 million as the tide of the global economy started to rise in its favour.
The craft will be ready by June next year, the firm said in a statement yesterday.
Grand Banks was hit hard in the 2008 global financial crisis, but has managed a rebound over the past eight months, thanks in part to the revival of the United States economy. That helped the firm exit the Singapore Exchange watch list in October.
Grand Banks, which acquired Palm Beach Yachts last August, giving it a manufacturing facility in Sydney in addition to one in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, will show two boats at the Singapore Yacht Show, which opens tomorrow.
Chief executive Mark Richards, the former CEO of Palm Beach Yachts, said yesterday: "We've probably done more change than any boat company in the world in the last 10 months.
"The strong sales reflect the recovery of the US market and the strong reception to new designs for both brands."
Mr Richards, who skippered the winner of the Sydney-Hobart yacht race over the Christmas-New Year period, added that the changes faced "very little resistance" from management.
He was speaking at a briefing yesterday on board a Grand Banks yacht owned by Indonesian buyer Anthony Huray.
Mr Hank Compton, the managing director of Grand Banks' Malaysian subsidiary, said: "The lifeboat of a boat business is new products... There will always be something in (our) pipeline."
Three new designs will be launched this year - the Grand Banks 60, Grand Banks East Bay 44 and Palm Beach 42.
Grand Banks yachts cost US$1 million (S$1.3 million) to US$4 million, about 10 per cent more than its US competitors, according to Mr Compton. Mr Richards said the company has received interest from Singaporean and Japanese buyers in recent years.
The company aims to diversify further given that the industry is highly sensitive to the ebbs and flows of the global economy.
Chief financial officer Peter Poli said it might branch out into chartering, repair work or commercial boats, while exploring regions such as South America, the Middle East and the Caribbean
This article was first published on April 22, 2015.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.