Princess Yachts are thrilled to have been awarded The Sunday Times Manufacturing Excellence Award, presented at the virtual International Track 200 Awards ceremony on Monday 5th October 2020.
The ‘Manufacturing Excellence Award’, sponsored by The Sunday Times, was presented by Business Editor Oliver Shah, to Chief Operating Officer Paul Mackenzie of Princess Yachts.
The 11th annual Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200 awards event brought together the founders and directors of UK private companies with the fastest-growing international sales over the past two years. Jane Galvin, Head of Corporate Banking, HSBC UK, opened the virtual event: “The International Track 200 awards are designed to celebrate and recognise the success of businesses that take everything that’s brilliant about the UK and spread it around the world.”
Paul Mackenzie of Princess Yachts accepted the award: “It is with great pride that we accept the award for manufacturing excellence, as our commitment to manufacturing from raw materials to finished yachts onsite is one that sees not just 3000 employees in-house here in Plymouth, but also a further 15,000 jobs supported across our supply chain within the UK.”
Princess Yachts grew exports by £115m in two years to £264m in 2018. This summer saw the incredibly successful launch of its’ new ‘Superfly’ X Class and the first model in the class – the X95 – is yet another innovative new concept for Princess Yachts. The X Class creates an entirely new segment, and while representing a significant step in the Princess new product programme, she is absolutely the epitome of British craftsmanship.
Fast Track has published national league tables of the UK’s top-performing private companies with The Sunday Times for the past 23 years. Its invitation-only awards events provide a valuable opportunity for entrepreneurs to network and meet its sponsors. The company was founded and is run by Dr Hamish Stevenson, who also holds an associate fellowship at Green Templeton College, Oxford University.
Princess Yachts
Plymouth-based Princess Yachts epitomises the best of British manufacturing, from its quality craftsmanship, design and engineering pedigree, to the refined elegant and luxury interior styling of its craft. The result blends cutting-edge technology with traditional craftsmanship to set new standards in performance, evident across the Princess range of sophisticated flybridge motor yachts, dynamic V Class sports yachts, ground-breaking S Class sportbridge yachts, flagship superfly X Class yachts, meticulous Y Class yachts and revolutionary R Class performance sports yachts. The Princess reputation for design, engineering and manufacturing excellence has earned the company global appeal and established it as a truly international brand.
Princess Yachts was acquired in 2008 by L Capital 2 FCPR, an investment group co-sponsored by LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton) and Groupe Arnault. In January 2016, L Capital merged with Catterton to become L Catterton, now recognised as the largest global consumer-focused investment firm. A boat has to be constructed under the highest quality control if it is to deal successfully with the tough conditions the oceans can occasionally impose. Princess construction systems are approved by Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance as complying with BS EN ISO 9001 standards. This assures the owner that his boat is built to the highest standards and represents lasting value.
In 2010 we became the first major European boat-builder to be awarded ISO 14001 in recognition of our achievements in reducing our environmental impact. We are also breaking new ground in large scale resin infusion technology, a closed moulded process which almost completely eliminates styrene emissions in the workplace and local environment.
