Treasured boatbuilder rejects talk he suffers from cash crisis

By Jock Anderson

Friday 12th April 2002

BILL LLOYD: All ship-shape

Millionaire luxury boatbuilder Bill Lloyd yesterday angrily rejected claims his Sovereign Yachts empire was financially troubled or on the receiving end of debt-recovery action.

Speaking from his Vancouver headquarters Mr Lloyd said he was not being pursued for money, was not in debt and all his business enterprises were fully paid for.

He said the company had orders for two more mega-yachts and was "on track" to meet targets set for its first year of operation on former defence department land at Hobsonville.

One of Mr Lloyd's New Zealand directors, Malcolm Innes-Jones of accountancy firm BDO Spicers, said Sovereign Yachts (NZ) - which he said had a "very strong financial position" - had no financial problems in New Zealand.

Act New Zealand MP Rodney Hide claimed to have evidence Mr Lloyd's business had financial problems which were not fully checked out, or were ignored, in the government's haste to present the boat- builder's move to Hobsonville as a "success story."

Mr Innes-Jones accused competitors of envy and Opposition politicians of spreading rumours about Mr Lloyd to get at deputy prime minister and economic development minister Jim Anderton.

Expatriate New Zealander Mr Lloyd's agreement to move his multimillion-dollar mega-yacht business from Vancouver to Hobsonville was last year hailed by the Labour-Alliance coalition as a triumph for the so-called "jobs machine."

Mr Anderton said Sovereign Yachts' move meant hundreds of new jobs and $100 million a year would flow through Waitakere city as a result.

Waitakere mayor Bob Harvey, whose council helped speed up the consultation process to permit the establishment of a boatbuilding "cluster" at Hobsonville, identified National and Act New Zealand politicians "working hard" to discredit Mr Lloyd and Mr Anderton. Everything about Sovereign Yachts' Hobsonville development "stacked up," Mr Harvey said.

Mr Lloyd said he was likely to take contractors to court in Canada over a "nightmare" $2 million budget overrun on a building at his Vancouver yard.

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