June 19, 2018

Creditors have been notified that on the fifth day of June 2018, Grant Thornton Limited was appointed as trustee of the estate of the bankrupt Windward Holdings Inc., operating as Rossiter Boats.

We reached company past president Scott Hanson who was very forthcoming with information and expressed a positive attitude about the future for Rossiter Boats.

Fundamentally, the company now has grown to serve 26 dealers from South Florida, up the Eastern Seaboard and throughout the Great Lakes region. The dealers have overwhelmingly pledged support in the situation, orders are complete and delivered up to May, with June production almost complete, and significant inventory is ready and awaiting engines before shipping. Approximately $1.900,000 in orders are in production in the factory at present.

Intense pressure on the engine companies who are dealing with unprecedented demand, coupled with the recent Canada / US trade uncertainty has created a situation that prompted the Windward Holdings Inc. investor and board to take action now.

The company has a significant order book and assets that considerably exceed liabilities, so the future should be hopeful.

Scott Hanson told News Week, “I am very encouraged by the response from both the dealers and Rossiter Boat owners to this announcement. The company has grown by double digits year over year for many years. All but one of our 26 dealers have indicated their support asking how they can help and saying that they hope the company will resume production as soon as possible.”

“We have already received offers of financial assistance and the Grant Thornton organization is working as quickly as possible to resolve this situation. There has been investor and manufacturer interest both from Canada and the United States, all indicating they would like to see me[Scott Hanson] stay at the helm. We’ve created a very strong brand and were getting great customer support.”

“I want to emphasize that the engine manufacturers at present seem to be overwhelmed by demand for outboard engines, particularly in the higher horsepower range, and this situation is exacerbated by all the damage from last year’s hurricane season.”

“I recognize that the engine companies have to fulfill their contracts quickly and fairly and I have absolutely nothing bad to say about the engine companies – they are doing their very best, but the situation is very hard on a smaller and more semi-custom company like Rossiter. Given where we are at in the 2018 season and facing 6 to 8 week delays in engine deliveries, this has put tremendous pressure on the companies cash flow and thus  forced the companies owners and board decision,  in spite of how hard our engine suppliers are working to accommodate our needs and challenges. There is a very unusual inverse relationship in supply and demand right now. Not everybody has the appetite to handle this kind of market pressure and the new trade uncertainties between the two countries.”

The first meeting of the creditors will be held on the 25th day of June 2018 at 10 AM. Creditor information is available on the Grant Thornton website at https://www.grantthornton.ca/en/service/advisory/creditor-updates/#Windward-Holdings-Inc-oa-Rossiter-Boats

By Andy Adams