Friday, October 10, 2008

Brunswick Giving Up on Boats

Mercury Marine is next.

Brunswick plans to close its boat [Bayliner] manufacturing plant in Pipestone, Minn., as part of a broad cost-cutting effort that will trim more than 1,400 jobs altogether.

...Brunswick, which announced the plans Thursday, also plans to close boat-making facilities in Roseburg, Ore. and Arlington, Wash., and to mothball a plant in Navassa, N.C.

Oh--yeah--there's more.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Friday lowered Brunswick Corp.'s long-term ratings, including its corporate credit rating and senior unsecured debt rating to BB- from BB+. The ratings were also placed on CreditWatch with negative implications, indicating the possibility of a further downgrade in the near term.

Why?

Because nobody can get credit with which to purchase boats. That's the immediate cause. Longer-term cause is a cyclical decline in the recreational boating-sales curve.

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