MARINE BUSINESS OF GROWING IMPORTANCE TO DOMETIC AMERICAS

Feb 18, 2020

By Craig Ritchie

Dometic Americas president Scott Nelson addresses a diverse audience of professionals from multiple industries at the company’s state-of-the-nation event held last week in Arizona.

Sales of marine-related products grow increasingly important to Dometic Americas say the company, with further growth expected in the next few years.

Speaking to an invitation-only audience of about 150 Dometic staff and industry professionals gathered for a two-day retreat in the Arizona desert last week, Dometic Americas president Scott Nelson said marine sales now account for 43% of the company’s revenues – a sharp increase from the 9.0%. of sales they represented when Nelson joined the company in 2016. “Part of that has come from acquisitions,” he said, in reference to Dometic’s November 2017 acquisition of Sea Star Solutions for a reported US$875m. “We will be more acquisitive over the next couple of years. It’s important for us to continue to grow because our customers want us to be a trusted partner, it’s important that we’re able to offer more products and more solutions to them.”

It’s a customer base that is growing as the company expands into offering a more diverse product base beyond its traditional RV market. “Marine will continue to be a really important segment moving forward, since there is a lot of opportunity there,” said Nelson. “We have a strong position in steering, fuel systems, sanitation and also climate control, but there’s a lot of opportunities in other areas still.”

Nelson notes that Dometic’s marine business represents an almost even 50-50 split between OEM and aftermarket business. “Before we acquired SeaStar, SeaStar had acquired another business – Sierra – and their business was first an aftermarket business.”

Nelson also noted that the company expects as much as 41% of its 2020 revenues to come from new products, with further launches planned for later this year.

– Craig Ritchie