“The SMS Group is proudly building a Cruise and Ferry team by focusing 100% on the people; ensuring experience, credibility and capability are at the forefront of our service offering”.
08/07/21 – Darren Smith has this month joined The SMS Group as Head of Business Development with a clear focus on the Cruise and Ferry sector. Darren brings with him a wealth of experience and contacts from over 30 years in the industry; he joins Dan Lockyer, Head of Interiors, Nick Border and Chris Bailey. Collectively encompassing over 100 years of genuine hands-on experience the team has unrivalled industry expertise and is uniquely positioned as the only marine interior outfitter located within the ABP footprint in Southampton.
Dan Lockyer, Head of Interiors, comments:
“Darren’s appointment is one of strategic significance for SMS; our outfit business has grown year-on-year for the last three years and as the Cruise industry prepares for a global restart the timing is just perfect. Our vision is timely, controlled, organic growth, and that will very much be front and centre of Darren’s objectives, which is something Darren has vast experience of in his years within the maritime industry, it’s the ideal situation”.
Dan Lockyer, Head of Interiors
Darren Smith, Head of Business Development, goes on to say: “I’ve known Dan and the team for a long-time and I look forward to working with them not only in regard to Business Development but also in creating a new and exciting business; we’re building something special and it’s great to be a part of it”.
In conclusion Nicholas Warren, Commercial Director, comments: “as we conclude the 20/21 fiscal year and realign our objectives for the 21/22 period a targeted approach to outfit, within the Cruise and Ferry sector, is ‘mission critical’ for the business. Despite the pandemic each of our eight locations has this year made a positive EBITDA contribution to Group, and which has resulted in us exceeding our budget by some margin. The time is right for investment, and as the Cruise industry restarts it will move from being one of our many marine centric verticals to being at the heart of our operations”. He goes on to say: “we’ll make future investment in this space too; as our client list grows we fully intend to increase awareness via industry events, marketing and further sales initiatives – all of this perfectly matches Darren’s profile, experience and his industry background and broad network of connections”.
For further comment please contact Darren Smith, Head of Business Development, darren.smith@sms-marine.co.uk
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