A record year is coming to a close for the Beneteau Group, a sailboat and powerboat builder since 1984 that covers the broadest spectrum of product and service segments on the boating market. Indeed, the French shipyard is ending its strategic plan “Let’s Go Beyond!“, which has seen a radical transformation in the production process as well as a high commitment to the ecological transition.
For the Beneteau Group, international boat business accounts for 84 percent of its turnover. This is precisely why the French manufacturer intends to play a key role in transforming its sector and the change in uses to contribute fully to meeting the environmental challenges. Lastly, faced with major changes in practices and new expectations of future generations in terms of experience, technologies and sustainability, the group is increasing its position in services, beyond its traditional activity of boat building.
Beneteau Group: a record year
From 2019 to 2023, the Beneteau Group with its “Let’s Go Beyond!” plan has combined optimization, innovation and sustainability. A path that has also positively impacted turnover, which was 1.14 billion euros in 2019 and expected to reach 1.45 billion euros by the end of 2023.
In the past four years, moreover, Beneteau Group has seen its market capitalization increase by 50 percent and its Boat division aim for an operating margin of 11.5 percent in 2023. The group currently benefits from a positive cash position of more than 200 million euros, allowing it to look forward to a peaceful future.
Beneteau Group, we remind you, is currently active in four market segments (monohull sailboats, multihull sailboats, recreational boating, and Real Estate on the Water). The shipyard offers 128 models from 4.5 to 24 m in length, both sail and power, through its nine brands. Despite this wide range, the French builder never stops innovating, launching an average of 20 new models per year.
The ecological transition
With a view to ecological transition, the Beneteau Group commits to a 30% drop in its CO2 emissions by 2030. To do this, the group has adopted a comprehensive environmental approach, based on an in-depth life cycle analysis of different boats, with different results and therefore different solutions between sailboats and powerboats.
More specifically, the Beneteau Group has set three major priorities for actions to achieve the 30% CO2 reduction target:
- Offer alternative propulsions appropriate for each use to reduce dependency on fossil fuels. The result is a variety of technical solutions, depending on the boating experience, for example 100% electric for day boating, series hybrid for sailboats and parallel hybrid for the Real Estate on the Water segment. The Group thus commits to offering alternative propulsions on its entire product range by 2030.
- Acting on materials, with more sustainable components and the development of new recycled materials. For example, the Group is working on changing the amount of biosourced material in its polyester resin. This is increasing from 14% in 2022 to 35% in 2023. Another example is replacing the current polyester resin by an Elium® recyclable resin, which may be re-used at the boat’s end-of-life. This material will ultimately reduce the carbon footprint of our materials by 70% compared with standard materials on the market. The first production run has recently left the Group’s Nantes boatyard with a racing boat, the JEANNEAU Sun Fast 30 OD, produced in partnership with Multiplast. And going even further, in 2024, Groupe Beneteau will also be the first boatyard in France to re-use all the off-cuts from its glass fibre production. Its products are destined for the car industry.
- Working on the architecture. The Group’s work on the naval architecture of the boat has reduced its hull drag and therefore its energy requirement. This is true of the Prestige M8. Energy consumption was divided by 2 by moving from a monohull to a multihull. But Groupe Beneteau has no intention of stopping there. It will exhibit the FOUR WINNS TH36 fitted with foils at the Cannes Yachting Festival in September 2024. This innovation will improve glide over water, thereby reducing drag by 20%. This will not only reduce consumption; it will also be a new experience with smoother driving and greater comfort for the user.
