Discovery Shipyard, based in Lymington, UK, has been placed in voluntary liquidation. The directors of the Discovery Yachts and Southernly Yachts yacht builder have appointed Neil Gosteow and Stephen Absolom of Interpath Advisory as liquidators.
The COVID-19 pandemic, declining orders, and supply chain issues are being blamed for the closure of the Southampton boatyard. All 77 staff have been made redundant.
Since December 2021, difficulties had been made public. The owner, Werner Schaebele, who became the sole holder of the capital in December 2019, through his Binti Marine holding company, had publicly announced that he would no longer invest in the company, making it impossible to turn the company around in the short term.
Neil Gostelow and Steve Absolom from Interpath Advisory were appointed joint liquidators of Discovery Shipyard on 14 January 2022.
In a statement, Interpath Advisory said despite new orders coming in during 2021, Discovery was ‘restricted in its ability to manufacture to schedule by a combination of the ending of certain government support schemes and the well-documented global supply chain issues which caused delays in the availability of building materials, coupled with wider constraints on working capital.’
Gostelow said Discovery Shipyard ‘had a proud reputation for building quality blue water cruising yachts, but unfortunately suffered significant trading issues in the wake of the pandemic. Our immediate priority is to realize the company’s remaining assets.’