GE Capital Sees Rebound for Canadian Boat Builders

GE Capital’s Commercial Distribution Finance (CDF) business said it has seen positive trends in the Canadian marine, motorsports and recreational vehicle (RV) industries through the first half of the year. It expects favorable conditions to continue into 2014.

A 17 percent increase over last year’s marine industry volume is within striking distance of pre-downturn figures nationwide. There has been considerable growth year-over-year in the prairies and in the Atlantic region, although Ontario and Quebec still account for the most volume by province.

“We saw a lot of excitement at last year’s boat shows,” Howard Shiebler, president and CEO of CDF in Canada noted. “Canadian marine dealers continued to fill orders from those shows into the first half of this year.”

This strong performance can be seen in inventory aging levels, as well; the national level of inventory aged one year or more has decreased to nearly 16 percent from just below 19 percent in 2012.