Sunseeker admits its 70-100ft focus was 'the wrong fork in the road'

A yard finally admits its own mistake

Steve Timms has run Sunseeker as interim chief executive since April, the fourth name near the top job in under a year, and he told Marine Industry News on 10 August that the ownership settling with Cross Ocean Partners and Cheyne Capital gives the yard something it has been missing. 'Is almost like the textbook scenario you're looking for from a business,' he said of the new structure. The bigger admission came when he turned to strategy: 'From a strategic point of view, we've probably taken a wrong fork in the road over the last few years.'

Timms traced the fault to governance, not just product. 'The business got bigger and bigger, but it probably didn't have the governance you're looking for alongside it to run the business,' he said, adding that the target now is 'to keep that entrepreneurial spirit. But you have to have governance, a framework and discipline.' He described the review as total: 'It's safe to say there's no stone being left unturned,' including a new KPI regime he insists is not punitive. 'KPIs are not the enemy. They're there to help drive performance improvements and create genuine, meaningful two-way conversations.'

Sunseeker walks back from the 70 to 100 foot squeeze

The specific mistake Timms named was the size of boat Sunseeker chased. 'We focused on expanding our product portfolio in a slightly smaller sweet spot, maybe between 70 and 100 foot. Actually, the biggest growth in the market is in the 100-foot-and-above sector,' he said. The yard's answer is the 134 Superyacht, a 40.5-metre tri-deck unveiled at Cannes in 2025, now sold as its first hull to an American owner for delivery in 2027, with a second hull entering build in September. Denison Yacht Sales, which listed the first hull, gives her five cabins for up to ten guests, twin MTU engines for a 20-knot top speed, and a standard range of 1,200 nautical miles at 10 knots, extending to 1,600nm with the optional fuel tank.

Timms framed the second hull as proof rather than promise. 'Over the last few years we've had a lot of false starts about coming back into superyachts and not putting our money where our mouth is, not demonstrating it. It's been an important milestone to put the new 134 into build. We're demonstrating that we're back in that segment,' he said. For a buyer choosing between Sunseeker and a rival yard's 40-metre range, a second confirmed hull under construction is a harder fact to check against than a design unveiled once and not followed up.

The teak fines behind the compliance overhaul

The governance Timms describes was tested first by timber, not by boats. Bournemouth Crown Court fined Sunseeker International GBP 240,000 in the first prosecution under the UK Timber Regulation, over 11 timber imports, including Myanmar teak, African wenge and European oak, worth more than GBP 60,000, on top of a roughly GBP 67,000 confiscation order and GBP 51,000 in costs, after the company admitted failing to keep proper due-diligence records. Separately, the US Department of Justice said Sunseeker International and its American sales subsidiary admitted two counts under the Lacey Act over illegally sourced Myanmar teak and agreed to pay a USD 200,000 fine, with the yachts tied to the imports valued at close to USD 4.1 million.

Timms says the response is now built into the supply chain rather than a one-off fix. 'We've had to demonstrate that we've got the right processes in place, that we're sourcing sustainable teak. We're isotope testing our products. We've got random batch testing. We've got that stamp of authority, of approval, coming through our supply chains,' he said, describing the yard as now '100 per cent compliant' and noting the extra work involved in managing the technical differences between older Myanmar teak already aboard existing boats and the sustainably sourced alternative now specified.

Why the shipyard is skipping Southampton

Sunseeker will not exhibit at the Southampton International Boat Show this year, Timms confirmed, even as it keeps a presence at Cannes and Monaco for their international reach. In their place, the yard is pushing buyers toward its own Dorset facility. 'There's more of a story than just buying a boat,' he said, arguing that Covid had already shown the industry a different route to customers: 'Covid was a bit of an eye-opener for how you can connect with customers, you can get customers to your brand without necessarily going to boat shows.' The yard is opening its production floor more widely to journalists and visitors as part of that shift.

The showroom change sits inside a wider five-year plan built around three pillars Timms names as commercial, product and operations, with a new product roadmap behind it. 'If the strategy gets stuck in a boardroom, it will stay in a boardroom,' he said of the decision to put it in front of press rather than keep it internal. Scott Millar, credited with writing that five-year plan, is set to take over as permanent chief executive in October, at which point Timms returns to his chief operating officer role.

What it means for anyone choosing a yard

Set against Sunseeker's own recent history, the interview reads as a course correction rather than a fresh start. Cross Ocean Partners and Cheyne Capital only completed their takeover on 28 July, after a rival buyout led by KCP Holdings collapsed in April when its financing failed to close in time. Andres Rubio, named permanent chief executive under that failed deal, never took the job. Millar's October start will make him Sunseeker's third chief executive of 2026 alone, following Andrea Frabetti's departure and Timms' interim spell.

None of that shows up in a brochure, and it is exactly the kind of detail a buyer comparing a Sunseeker against a Princess or a Ferretti-group yard would want before signing. The 134's second hull under construction and the teak supply chain now tested by isotope are real, checkable facts. Sunseeker's own price for the 134, and whether Millar's handover in October changes anything Timms has set in motion, are not yet public.