MarineMax acquires Sail & Ski Center
MarineMax, Inc. (NYSE: HZO) announced that it has completed the acquisition of Sail & Ski Center, a highly-awarded boat dealership operating in the fast-growing markets of Austin and San Antonio, Texas.
Sail & Ski Center was founded in 1969 by the late Rod Malone, a well-respected and passionate boating enthusiast. Since the inception of Boating Industry’s ranking of the Top 100 Dealers in North America, Sail & Ski has been ranked in the top 10. Sail & Ski was recognized as the Dealer of the Year in 2018 after also earning that title in 2010.
Fiscal 2018 revenue for Sail & Ski’s three locations exceeded $40 million, with operations that serve the Austin and San Antonio, Texas markets. The brands represented by Sail & Ski are largely consistent or complementary with those offered by MarineMax. Sail & Ski’s operations include a robust water sports and snow sports accessory business.
MarineMax acquired substantially all of Sail & Ski’s assets. The shareholders of Sail & Ski, who will remain as its operators, received an initial cash payment at closing and have the ability to earn additional payments, subject to achieving certain performance metrics in the future.
W. Brett McGill, Chief Executive Officer and President of MarineMax, Inc. stated, “We are excited to strengthen and enhance our presence in the large and important Texas market by adding the Sail & Ski operations to our existing Texas business in the Dallas and Houston markets. Buzz Watkins and Doug Malone, the operators of the business, are well respected in our industry and we are very proud to welcome them and the Sail & Ski team to the MarineMax family. We are looking forward to combining best practices with Sail & Ski, especially in the towboat market and the parts and accessory area, which they do better than most. We operate with similar customer centric strategies, and we firmly believe that together we will be even stronger serving boating enthusiasts in the growing Texas market.”
“We have been long-time industry partners of MarineMax and have watched and admired their accomplishments over the years,” said Buzz Watkins, President of Sail & Ski. “We are excited about joining the MarineMax team. We believe access to their exclusive brands will further drive our growth. This strategic combination better enables Sail & Ski to grow and take advantage of new opportunities in the future.”
The Company will provide an update to its fiscal 2019 guidance during its March quarter earnings release scheduled for April 25, 2019.
