Keep afloat

And according to Mathew Hornsby, 37, of Williams Performance Tenders, it is “notoriously difficult” to make money out of boats. And he should know, since he and his brother John, 39, tried to pull off the trick for several years before finding a winning formula.

And last year the business turned over £10m — not to mention winning the prestigious UKTI International Trader of the Year category at the Oxfordshire Business Awards 2009.

He said: “There are people making boats in back gardens and sheds all over Britain and 99 per cent of them are losing money.

“We made wooden boats in our father’s garage and would have done the same, in a rudderless sort of way, except for one thing: we saw that there was a niche market for tenders specially built to go on luxury yachts.”

They developed the jet-powered RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat), a sort of hybrid between a rigid structure and an inflatable, and the company grew during the boom years when the rich — including those big bonus bankers — took into their collective head to splash out big time on yachts, every one of which needed a tender, thereby presenting an opportunity for the Hornsby brothers to piggyback on their success.

Mathew said: “The first thing younger people buy when they come into huge lump sums of money is an expensive car, and the second thing is an expensive boat.”

In 2002, still operating from their father’s garage in Chalgrove, the brothers presented their first RIB at the London Boat Show — and realised they had struck gold when they sold more than 100 in their first year as tenders for yachts from such builders as Princess, Sunseeker, and Fairline, as well as foreign builders.

Clearly, the business was going places. In 2005, Roy Parker, an entrepreneur who had already made money in the volume sailing boat market, and by inventing a bath for disabled people which is still known as the Parker bath, came ‘aboard’ as a third director.

He pumped in enough money to allow the company to move to purpose-built showrooms and offices in Berinsfield, complete with the use of Queenford Lake, a former gravel pit, perfect for testing and demonstrating boats.

Now Williams Performance Tenders employs 33 people at Berinsfield, and has dealership arrangements with 33 distributors in countries including the USA, Italy, France, and Spain, as well as several South American countries.

A far cry from making wooden boats in the garage. But what induced two brothers living about as far away from the sea as it is possible on this island to take up boat building in the first place?

Mathew said: “Since we were children we have loved making things. Our father, Rex, a keen woodworker, encouraged us to handle a chisel from an early age.

“Then we loved messing around in boats, too, on the river, so we put the two together.

“After we graduated from university we started looking around for a way of turning a hobby into a livelihood, and RIBs seemed to be it.”

Between 2005 and 2008, the company grew from about £350,000 to £10m. And in 2009, winning the Oxfordshire Business Award helped raise its profile further.

“For a company with such a growing turnover we were comparatively unknown, so winning the award was a fantastic honour, and great for all who work here, many of whom have been with us for years”, said Mathew.

Then, looming up like a reef of rocks ahead, the recession appeared. Several boat-building companies hit it full tilt and went down, holed beneath the waterline, with yachts costing £1m plus lucky to fetch 50 per cent less, and the total number of yachts ordered in Europe down between 20 and 30 per cent.”

The market froze after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Bank, like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

Mathew said: “It was frightening, but strange to say the yachts over £1m were least affected. It was the yachts costing up to £1m that were hit worst.”

However, the Williams enterprise — named after the brothers’ mother’s maiden name— survived, and now things are bouncing back.

Mathew said: “We are booked out until March and 2010 is looking good.”

The company offers five models ranging from the 2.85 metre 72 hp petrol driven baby of the family, the 285, suitable for yachts up to 16 metres, to the diesel-driven 505D turbojet, for yachts of more than 30 metres.

None of the tenders have propellers. Instead they are pushed along by a jet of water shot out by something called an ‘inpeller’ which enables them to travel in shallower water than a conventional boat, and also into areas covered in seaweed, which would get tangled in a propeller.

But could the fortunes of this remarkable company be an unusual economic indicator?

Certainly it shows the luxury market is afloat again and demonstrates how, when rich people spend money, some of that money sometimes finds its way into the Oxfordshire economy.

In any case Mathew is not complaining. He has found a way of getting someone to pay him to do what he enjoys doing anyway which, he said, “helps me to get up in the mornings.”

Name: Williams Performance Tenders Established: 1997 Sales director: Mathew Hornsby Number of staff: 33 Annual turnover: £10m

Contact: 01865 341134 Web: www.williamsjettenders.com