Hunter Marine's parent company files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection

[Oldrig]

FWIW, the parent company of Luhrs, Silverton and a number of other p*owerboats, as well as Hunter, the sailboat manufacturer, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Here are some paragraphs from today's article in SOUNDINGS Trade Only Today:

"Morgan Industries Corp., the parent company of Hunter Marine and the Luhrs Marine Group, said in its bankruptcy filing that it has between $10 million and $50 million in assets and the same amount in liabilities. ...

Entities listed in the filing were: Hunter Composite Technologies Corp.; Hunter Marine Corp.; Luhrs Corp.; Mainship Corp.; Ovation Yachts Corp.; Salisbury 10 Acres LLC; Salisbury 20 Acres LLC; and Silverton Marine Corp. ...

Hunter Marine president and chief restructuring officer John Peterson told Soundings Trade Only on Monday that the stinkpot operations ? Silverton, Luhrs and Mainship ? ceased operations in January. Florida-based Hunter Marine, the sailboat builder, has never shut down production, he said, and continues to be up and running.

As for Hunter, Peterson said, ?Our orders are fairly strong right now. I think things are going fairly well [for Hunter]. We could certainly pay for ourselves on an ongoing basis, but we could not pay for the whole group on an ongoing basis.?

There are ?numerous? entities interested in buying Hunter and other assets, Peterson added."


It's interesting that Hunter seems to be the only division of this company that's still making money.

==Joe

[Jim_ME]

Do you think that the p*owerboat divisions being hit harder is a reflection of the high cost of fuel, and those customers shifting to sailboats as helping boost the Hunter division?

-Jim

[Oldrig]

Do you think that the p*owerboat divisions being hit harder is a reflection of the high cost of fuel, and those customers shifting to sailboats as helping boost the Hunter division?

Jim,

The industry talk is that while Hunter has been coming out with new designs, and working hard to correct the bad rep that it built up under previous management, the other divisions have not been changing their tunes, or their designs, at all.

But I'd like to think that fuel costs, the fact that Hunters (even re-tooled ones) are not loaded with unnecessary extras, and affordability are also factors.

--Joe