Burgess relocates London headquarters as business expands

Burgess is relocating its London base from its long-time premises and "spiritual home” in Pall Mall to nearby Regent Street due to the company's continual growth which has been on an upward trajectory over the last decade.

The London office provides the full range of superyacht services: brokerage, charter, charter management, superyacht construction, yacht management, crew services, yacht insurance and yacht marketing. Over 75 of the 180 team members employed by Burgess are based in the London office, including the company's senior administration and financial staff.

Despite variable and challenging trading conditions in the industry over the last decade, Burgess has enjoyed unmitigated success in all divisions enabling organic growth in line with the developing requirements of its clients. A substantial volume of international transactions are processed through London which is an important hub for the company's core brokerage and charter operations.

The highly experienced brokerage team fosters specialist knowledge in custom and semi-custom yachts as well as sailing yachts, both new build and pre-owned. Covering the full spectrum of the superyacht market from the top down, Burgess has consistently led the way in large yacht sales for the last decade, with the highest value of sales and the largest average length of yachts sold across the industry. For the last two consecutive years, the total value of Burgess sales recorded by asking prices exceeded EUR 1 billion. Some of the largest and most seminal superyacht sales of all time have been achieved by the Burgess brokerage team, a number of which were off-market deals. A growing central agency brokerage fleet of approximately 80 yachts is also marketed for sale, 40% of which is 50m+.

Both the charter management and retail charter divisions of Burgess are strong performers and have weathered the economic and geo-political turbulence of recent times with resilience. The impressive central agency fleet consists of close to 100 top quality motor and sailing yachts ranging from 30m to 95m, with the largest share of the market in the 50m+ size range. The charter management team has a wealth of knowledge in all the complex areas of an increasingly regulated industry, such as legislation, tax and contractual liabilities. The retail charter team leverages its vast collective experience to deliver a uniquely personalised service to clients, designed to provide an over-and-above experience. Benefitting from a significant percentage of repeat business, the retail team has handled some of the highest value charters ever booked. As we enter the third quarter of 2016, the turnover to date of both charter divisions heralds a record breaking charter year in the company's 41 year history.

Burgess Technical Services (BTS) was formed in London in 2001 and is one of the company's greatest achievements, having to date successfully project managed the construction of more superyachts from 40m to 180m than any other yachting company. Working on behalf of owners, the in-house team of technical project managers, naval architects, marine and electrical engineers has supervised projects in 23 shipyards across three continents, including the 180m AZZAM which ranks as the world's largest yacht measured by LOA and the 156m DILBAR the world's largest yacht by gross tonnage. Excluding projects under development, current projects in build with BTS have a total value in excess of EUR 1.5 billion, which includes two Passenger Yacht Code compliant yachts.

Formed with foresight as far back as 1987 by predicting how the superyacht industry would evolve, the yacht management division of Burgess has also risen to heights of great success over the years. The operational management of a large fleet of vessels ranging from 30m to 156m is handled by the most qualified and experienced in-house yacht management team in the industry, many of whom are based in the London office. Services offered cover every aspect of a large yacht's operation, including safety and security, marine and cruising regulations, surveys, technical management and routine maintenance, crew and crew training, yacht certification, financial administration and much more. An emergency 24/7 service to assist captains and owners is also provided.

"The industry is currently in a very interesting cycle, so the move to larger premises nearby is an exciting step for us,” said Jonathan Beckett, CEO of Burgess. "Not only will the move allow us to keep pace with the developing needs of the business, but the new environment will be beneficial for team building which is an important factor in the DNA of Burgess.”

Burgess also has offices in Monaco, Moscow, Palma, Athens, New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Seattle, Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo. The London address for Burgess from 15 August 2016 will be as follows (telephone numbers remain unchanged):

Burgess
Cunard House
15 Regent Street
St James's
London
SW1Y 4LR
Tel: +44 20 7766 4300