Rentals
In our fiscal year 2021, we expanded our business to include rentals of electric powerboats by acquiring 7858078 Canada Inc., an entity that rents electric boats at the Lido Marina Village in Newport, California through its wholly-owned subsidiary, EB Rental, Ltd. We acquired this business for approximately $9,020,000, of which $5,546,000 was paid in cash and $3,474,000 of which was paid in the form of 2,108 common shares. At the time of the acquisition, our Chief Executive Officer was an affiliate of 7858078 Canada Inc.
On April 1, 2023, we opened our second electric boat rental operation in Portside Ventura, California, located at 1196 Portside Drive through EB Rental Ventura Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of 7858078 Canada Inc. The new rental operations serve multiple purposes, including testing, validating, and training for west coast boat manufacturers. We plan to use the facility to evaluate and provide training on our fully electric E-Motion™ 180E propulsion system and outboard technology.
On December 6, 2023, we opened our third electric boat rental operation in Palm Beach, Florida, located at 200 E. 13th Street, Riviera Beach through EBR Palm Beach Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of 7858078 Canada Inc.
On April 25, 2024, we sold 100% of the shares of EB Rental, Ltd., which previously facilitated our electric boat rental operations located in Newport Beach, California, to Stratégies EB Inc. for $1,089,302. At the time of the sale, Stratégies EB Inc. was a related party because its controlling shareholder was a member of management of EB Rental, Ltd. prior to its sale. As of the date of this annual report, we continue to own and operate our electric boat rental operations in Ventura, California and Palm Beach, Florida. In addition, we are currently in the process of opening a new electric boat rental facility in Dania Beach, Florida.
The electric boat rental business currently has a fleet of approximately 12 powerboats. Rental rates range from US$75 per hour to US$215 per hour, plus a booking fee, with a minimum booking of two hours. Once a powerboat in our fleet has over 200 hours of sailing time, we offer the powerboat for sale to the public. In our 2024 fiscal year, our rental business generated approximately $1,946,427 of revenue, the majority of which was from the rental of our powerboats, as compared to $4,038,803 of revenue in 2023, the majority of which was from the rental of our powerboats.
Investment in Electric Boat Manufacturer
On May 14, 2021, we purchased $3,400,000 in Debentures from Limestone. Limestone is a North American designer and manufacturer of recreational and commercial powerboats. The Debentures bear interest at the rate of 10% per annum and mature in three years from issuance. We entered into an agreement pursuant to which Limestone agreed to purchase 25 powertrains from us, subject to the completion of satisfactory testing from Limestone, of which it has currently purchased nil. One of our directors is also a director of Limestone. On January 20, 2023, Limestone announced that its wholly-owned subsidiaries have filed for voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. As a result, we had significant doubts about recouping our investment in Limestone pursuant to the terms of the Debentures and entered into an agreement with Limestone on July 18, 2023 whereby we acquired common shares of Limestone, representing approximately 7% of their then outstanding shares, in exchange for the retirement of the Debentures. Prior to the conversion, the Company had recorded an impairment on the entire value of the Debentures at the amount of $2,637,000 in the fiscal year ended August 31, 2023.
Suppliers
Although we manufacture all of our powerboats, we do so by assembling the component parts that we acquire from third-party suppliers rather than by producing any of those component parts ourselves. Some of these parts and components are manufactured to our specifications (such as hulls and motors) while others are bought “off the shelf” (such as batteries and canopies). We do not maintain long-term contracts with preferred suppliers, but instead rely on informal arrangements and off-the-shelf purchases. We materially depend on some of those third-party suppliers for certain components that we obtain from a limited number of suppliers.
We have not experienced any material shortages in any of our product parts or components, but as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic some of our third-party suppliers experienced delays in delivering our product parts and components in a timely manner and fluctuations in price for these supplies is a possibility if raw material pricing increases. Temporary shortages, when they do occur, usually involve manufacturers of these products adjusting model mix, introducing new product lines, or limiting production in response to an industry-wide reduction in boat demand, or in finding persons able to deliver the parts and components in a timely manner.