Earlier this week, as reported on the Soundings Trade Only Today website, one of the partners of Iconic Marine Group, which purchased the Fountain Powerboats, Donzi Marine, Baja Marine and Pro-Line Boats brands in the spring, bought out the shares of the saltwater fishing brand Pro-Line.

The Pro-Line brand of saltwater fishing boats is no longer part of Iconic Marine Group. Photo courtesy Pro-Line Boats

According to Iconic Marine Group COO Joe Curran, the Joe Wortley family will now operate Pro-Line out of one of the Washington, N.C., facilities on the sizable boat-building property. He said the move allows Iconic Marine Group, which is keeping the same management team in place under the sole ownership of Fred Ross, to concentrate on the continued investment and overall development of the three “premium” brands of Baja, Donzi and Fountain.

“What we did is we basically sold (Pro-Line) to one of the partners that was in the company in exchange for their shares of Iconic Marine Group,” Curran told Trade Only Today. “We separated the partnership. At this point he and his group are going to run that company, and we’re going to continue what we’re doing.

“When rebuilding a company that has multiple brands serving different market segments, it quickly becomes apparent that you need to develop a culture and company attitude that can serve those segments rationally and productively,” Curran continued. “Sole ownership by Mr. Ross, along with improved management attention, will provide these brands the operational structure to grow in the future. The newly organized operation will allow us to better focus on our premium brands and intensify our efforts in dealer development, product development, process improvement and marketing.”

Curran also told speedonthewater.com on Thursday that he’s working on some team building in the engineering, design and marketing departments. He said you can expect to see some new model introductions and significant upgrades to current offerings within the next year.

“We have some exciting things happening here—it’s going to be fun to watch,” Curran explained. “It’s going to be hard work, that’s for sure, but we have some cool stuff coming down the pike. I’m definitely excited about these brands and their future.”

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