BRP Moving North American HQ to Texas

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jimh
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BRP Moving North American HQ to Texas

Postby jimh » Thu Nov 30, 2017 2:01 pm

Bombardier Recreational Products, the company that owns Evinrude, announced recently that it plans to move its North American market headquarters to Plano, Texas. The press release is below:

    BRP Opens a Headquarters for its North American Market in Texas to Fuel its Growth
    VALCOURT, QUÉBEC--(Marketwired - Nov. 16, 2017)

    In order to fuel its growth, global powersports leader BRP (TSX:DOO) will establish a headquarters for its North American market in Plano, in the Dallas, Texas area, early next year.

    "We are transforming our business model to get closer and better connected to our largest market," says Sandy Scullion, BRP's senior vice-president and general manager, Global Retail and Services. "BRP and its brands are performing very well in the market right now and we're eager to build on this important growth catalyst."

    The new headquarters for North America will play a key role in several functions for BRP, including Sales, Marketing, Dealer Services, Finance, and Human Resources.

    "We will bring together management and staff from different departments in Texas to create multidisciplinary teams. We are significantly changing our go-to market operating model and creating a fully dedicated North American business unit that will allow BRP to better support its dealers and customers," added Scullion.

    Texas was an excellent choice for BRP's North American headquarters: it is centrally located in the United States and is part of a wider region that represents a key market for the company. BRP already has a strong U.S. footprint with its Evinrude outboard manufacturing site in Wisconsin.

    Canadian dealers will also benefit from the new structure through improved service while maintaining their relationship with BRP representatives based in Canada, where BRP's global headquarters is located.

    About BRP
    BRP (TSX:DOO) is a global leader in the design, development, manufacturing, distribution and marketing of powersports vehicles and propulsion systems. Its portfolio includes Ski-Doo and Lynx snowmobiles, Sea-Doo watercraft, Can-Am all-terrain and side-by- side vehicles, Can-Am Spyder three-wheel vehicles, Evinrude and Rotax marine propulsion systems as well as Rotax engines for karts, motorcycles and recreational aircraft. BRP supports its line of products with a dedicated parts, accessories and clothing business. With annual sales of over CA$4.2 billion from over 100 countries, the Company employs approximately 8,700 people worldwide.

Source: http://www.marketwired.com/press-releas ... 241065.htm

dtmackey
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Re: BRP Moving North American HQ to Texas

Postby dtmackey » Fri Dec 01, 2017 9:47 am

BRP utilizes two separate sales forces for their product lines:
    --one dedicated for Evinrude only
    --another for everything else - CanAm, SkiDoo, SeaDoo, Spyder, Rotax

Not sure this announcement means much for the marine segment Evinrude since their headquarters are already in Wisconsin. My neighbor is a rep for BRP's non-Evinrude products, and this is a positive BRP move for him.

D-

jimh
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Re: BRP Moving North American HQ to Texas

Postby jimh » Fri Dec 01, 2017 9:59 am

I am a bit surprised that Texas is considered to be in the center of the snowmobile market, but, hey, with climate change you never know.

dtmackey
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Re: BRP Moving North American HQ to Texas

Postby dtmackey » Fri Dec 01, 2017 1:20 pm

jimh wrote:I am a bit surprised that Texas is considered to be in the center of the snowmobile market, but, hey, with climate change you never know.


Of the overall company, snowmobiles represent a segment of their overall business and slower than the others BRP brands, so a move to TX is in the best interest of BRP. Production, testing and other aspects of snowmobiles will be left in the north where it belongs.

FY17 in (CDN) dollars
Year round products - Spyder and CanAm, $1.6B total sales, 14% growth
Seasonal products - SeaDoo and SkiDoo, $1.4B total sales, 7.8% growth (snowmobile on the decline)
Propulsion - Evinrude, $416M, 5.4% growth and smallest business unit
Clothing - $643M, 2.5% growth

The BRP press release for the TX Corp office was focused on Sales, Marketing, HR, Finance, etc and you could put those just about anywhere. I'm sure there's also tax advantages to moving the headquarters to the U.S. that we will not hear about.

D-

jimh
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Re: BRP Moving North American HQ to Texas

Postby jimh » Fri Dec 01, 2017 3:26 pm

Many thanks for the most interesting data about the total revenue share of the BRP segments. I am very surprised that clothing is a bigger seller than outboard engines. I guess my bias as a boater and an owner of an outboard engine is showing.

On a somewhat related note, I was surprised to hear from some business owners in Ontario in the North Channel of Lake Huron that winter and snow-mobile season was often more profitable for them than summer and boating season. Once the water of northern Lake Huron turns to solid ice, the snow-machines (as they are called up there) come out in droves, and trails are established over the frozen lake to many offshore islands and other spots normally only accessible by boat.

I will admit to driving a snow-mobile for a few hours, and I felt I probably got about all I could from the sport in that time period. It just seemed too cold, too much wind, and too much noise to be really enjoyable. But maybe on a beautiful clear, crisp, blue sky day up north and when wearing exactly the right gear, it could be more enjoyable, particularly exploring some of those high hills surrounding the lake.

Jefecinco
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Re: BRP Moving North American HQ to Texas

Postby Jefecinco » Fri Dec 01, 2017 6:17 pm

During my one Winter in North Dakota (1974-1975) I went on a snow machine outing with a local friend. I was a passenger behind my friend and was all togged out in the one-piece suit, boots, balaclava, mittens and helmet with face shield. I was invited to drive for a while. Ten minutes of driving was more than enough for me. The experience was almost as bad as water skiing in a nearby lake in July. I was relieved to learn the resulting shrinkage was temporary.

I was reassigned from Iran to ND so perhaps a few more years of conditioning would have made it fun. I wear a sweat shirt around the house starting in November even when the ambient is around 80F. I believe my year in ND 41 years ago is to blame.
Butch

Don SSDD
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Re: BRP Moving North American HQ to Texas

Postby Don SSDD » Sat Dec 02, 2017 6:41 am

I am not a snow machine fan, but was on some in the early 1970's; it was cold and noisy and they were not very dependable or comfortable. Today's machines I understand are quiet and can travel at 120-MPH--plus you can get heaters and heated suits. You can travel pretty much from Nova Scotia to the West coast of Canada today by snow machine; they have nice soft suspensions and groomed trails.

The northern states would have similar snow machine trails and the season runs from Nov-April. Snow machines would be a lot lighter to tow around than a boat too. But we don't get much snow here where i live, I'll stick with boating.
1986 Outrage 18 with 2001 Honda 130 HP
Former Owner 1991 Guardian 19 with 1994 Evinrude V4 140HP
Former owner 1987 Montauk with 1998 Mercury 90HP
Nova Scotia