ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
From the Bang & Olufsen Interim Report 16th August 2013:The Group’s revenue for the fourth quarter of the 2012/13 financial year was DKK 740 million, compared to DKK 867 million last year, or a decline of 15 per cent.
Earnings before tax for the fourth quarter of the 2012/13 financial year were negative DKK 45 million against positive DKK 77 million in the same quarter last year.
See the Report here:http://www.bang-olufsen.com/UserFiles/File/Investor/Q4_2012-13_UK.pdfRegards, Robert
The AV section in the Report:
The AV segment recorded revenue of DKK 470 million in the fourth quarter of the 2012/13 financial year compared to DKK 505 million in the same period last year, corresponding to a decline of 7 per cent. Newly launched products continue to perform well. Based on the success of recently launched products and a strong roadmap for new products for the next 12-18 months, Bang & Olufsen has decided to reduce the complexity in the product portfolio by terminating a number of older, non-productive products across all product segments.
The new product launches and the terminations of old products will significantly rejuvenate and strengthen the product portfolio, make it even more attractive to consumers and retailers and further position Bang & Olufsen as a leader within high-end AV solutions.
-multimedia Robert-: See the Report here:http://www.bang-olufsen.com/UserFiles/File/Investor/Q4_2012-13_UK.pdf
See the Report here:http://www.bang-olufsen.com/UserFiles/File/Investor/Q4_2012-13_UK.pdf
Some interesting things from the report:
- This means that Bang & Olufsen now owns and operates 31 out of the 36 stores in China and Hong Kong.- The gross margin in AV was 35.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of the financial year, compared to 44.7 per cent in the same quarter last year (interesting B&O's gross margin was nearly 45% from the AV products)- North America recorded revenue of DKK 49 million. More US stores this quarter than there were same quarter a year ago. - The most important focus areas in the 2013/14 financial year are the rejuvenation and strengthening of the Bang & Olufsen product portfolio
Impressive growth everywhere - except the EU...
Webcast here.
(No good for iPads, but works on Imacs. Presumably Flash based.)
Graham
EDIT
Bit of a clanger by B&O considering their support of Apple iPad via A3 BS8 etc.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/aug/16/bang-olufsen-loss-danish-electronics
Do BeoWorlders think this is a fair overview?
StUrrock: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/aug/16/bang-olufsen-loss-danish-electronics Do BeoWorlders think this is a fair overview?
Main losses in Europe.
Not unexpected as the Euro zone is in a complete mess.
Not mentioned by the Guardian is that the relatively small ICEpower margins are up, but revenues down. Are B&O giving ICEpower away????
vikinger: Not unexpected as the Euro zone is in a complete mess.
According to recent news, the Eurozone is out of the recession and growth is on the up in Germany, France and other countries. And, to be fair, the recession never hit Denmark, Sweden and other Northern European countries as hard as Southern (Portugal, Spain etc) where B&O isn't quite as popular. I'm not totally convinced the 'Europe is in a mess' is the reason for poor European sales.
UK luxury cars sales are on the up, multi-million pound houses aren't failing to sell, luxury goods generally (handbags, watches) remain on an upward curve.
Personally, I think European (mainly UK) B&O customers are just much more hesitant about buying the products from the brand. Not helped by the likes of Stuff and others going on about how expensive they are, when they feature them in the news section of the magazine.
moxxey:I'm not totally convinced the 'Europe is in a mess' is the reason for poor European sales.
It's more that the product portfolio has been a mess for a few years. On the hi-fi side, the only remaining product was the BS5, which a lot of people think is not adapted. The TVs were lacking features that mainstream TV had.
But I do like the new products. TVs come with all multimedia features people expect, in addition to the B&O legendary picture quality. The prices are slowly being reduced.
Now bring a new Beosound or software update to the BS5 to make it NL and we'll get a consistent portfolio! Also they should communicate around the roadmap for NL.
Beoworld app with direct photo upload and emoticons.
My personal opinion is that the Eurozone is in a complete mess. More bail- outs are coming and youth unemployment is at all- time highs.
I don't believe the mainstream media government fed hype that we are out of recession. Having said that, I agree that the immediate downturn in B&O revenues from the Eurozone may well be as much to do with the products as it is with the fact that the 1% who are making all the money at the expense of 99% of us probably are not a big enough market for B&O to rely on. There will be a limit as to how much the younger generation will spend on BeoPlay etc........ Mobile phone replacements/ upgrades are falling dramatically, indicating that we are at the limit of spending by certain groups.
vikinger: My personal opinion is that the Eurozone is in a complete mess. More bail- outs are coming and youth unemployment is at all- time highs.
Yes, but my company does a hell of a lot of digital business across Europe, States and Australia. Barely anything has affected either our sales or revenue, from Europe. From our experience, Greece aside, it's been business as usual. I think this 'complete mess' is a overstated reaction to the Euro crisis and it's only affected mostly Southern European countries. Indeed, Greece is reporting positive growth at the moment.
I definitely think it's a combination of traditional European customers becoming tired of the brand and constant rising prices and, as Phil said, a tired product portfolio. There's no surprise B&O is reporting increasing revenues from territories where they have been less used to the product portfolio (or constantly rising prices).
I guarantee you one thing - now the Eurozone is out of the recession and reporting positive growth, I bet B&O does not see an increase from sales of their existing product range, across Europe. Their European approach needs re-working. Revamping tired stores, better marketing and re-adjusting their pricing (which we've seen with the BV11 and BV12).
Even Goldman Sachs doubt the recession has ended line....
: "The solid Q2 GDP print should not be taken at face value as it partly reflects a “statistical payback”. Moreover, the weakness in French investment spending is a reason for caution. More generally, the Euro area still has to cope with balance sheet adjustment required in both the private and public sectors, and continuing fiscal austerity will continue to weigh on demand for some time to come." We give Europe at most two quarters before the net foreign capital rotation fades and the continent reenters an unprecedented triple dip "recession."
zerohedge.com
vikinger: Even Goldman Sachs doubt the recession has ended line....
As I said, most other luxury brands are still performing in this market and our business hasn't changed significantly, apart from within the Eurozone countries which have had a crisis. But "Europe" isn't one entity when you judge growth and how individuals have been affected by the Euro crisis. Germany isn't affected by Spain, Denmark isn't affected by Portugal. B&O's primary markets are not the European countries affected by the Euro crisis. B&O's European business is primarily Denmark, UK, Germany, other Scandinavian countries. It's not Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy or Cyprus.
We have a writer - who's doing very comfortably well indeed - who we commission. He's so negative about Europe he genuinely believes there will be a uprising in the UK. It's amazing how some people view life.
With the launches of the new play products H3 and H6 in the last quarter shouldn't the sales for the for the Play products have increased for the fourth quarter? The way I read the numbers Play sales dropped almost 40% from a year ago in the quarter. This is with more play products to sell?
moxxey: vikinger: My personal opinion is that the Eurozone is in a complete mess. More bail- outs are coming and youth unemployment is at all- time highs. Yes, but my company does a hell of a lot of digital business across Europe, States and Australia. Barely anything has affected either our sales or revenue, from Europe. From our experience, Greece aside, it's been business as usual. I think this 'complete mess' is a overstated reaction to the Euro crisis and it's only affected mostly Southern European countries. Indeed, Greece is reporting positive growth at the moment. I definitely think it's a combination of traditional European customers becoming tired of the brand and constant rising prices and, as Phil said, a tired product portfolio. There's no surprise B&O is reporting increasing revenues from territories where they have been less used to the product portfolio (or constantly rising prices). I guarantee you one thing - now the Eurozone is out of the recession and reporting positive growth, I bet B&O does not see an increase from sales of their existing product range, across Europe. Their European approach needs re-working. Revamping tired stores, better marketing and re-adjusting their pricing (which we've seen with the BV11 and BV12).
Greece is due another bail-out in January. Germany is effectively funding the rest of the Euro area through the ECB in exchange for very dubious assets.
Let's face it, B&O should, in the short term, place a lot more focus on countries in a better financial position. Russia is one of them. Isn't it strange how the whole world's economies have shifted in 20 years?