The agreement with Groupe Beneteau was made through Raymarine's French distributor SDM Electronique and will be a welcome move for the recently floated company.

Groupe Beneteau stirred up its suppliers over recent months, resulting in Volvo Penta no longer supplying Beneteau sailboats and Lewmar losing out on winch supply to Harken.

According to Serge Paillard, Beneteau's directeur marketing, the changes were made after customer surveys made Harken first choice over Lewmar for deck fittings and winches.

Similarly, Beneteau sailboat engines are now shared between Yanmar and Nanni - "mostly Yanmar", said Paillard.

"Volvo Penta has a good image in Europe, but we can't sell Volvo in the US."

"Harken was already our major supplier for Jeanneau, " he told BB, "so when they came in with a good price and a strong service deal, we chose to consolidate our suppliers."

While denying any moves toward Brunswick's ideal of owning its suppliers, Paillard said supplier consol-idation is the future for Groupe Beneteau.

"We need innovative suppliers, " said Paillard. "They need to get ideas from their competitors - that's not our business."

Paillard said the group, which produces 9,000 boats a year, is moving towards producing more ranges of boats with more choices for customers. "There will be more standardisation on hardware, leaving us to offer options on accommodations."