English Antitrust yesterday published the list of issues it intends to evaluate to give the green light to the merger of a large part of # whirlpool ‘s European activities with those of arçelik in beko europe . Two weeks of fire began for the corporate affairs teams of Whirlpool Corporation , led in Europe by Maurizio David Sberna and of Arçelik Global . They have until November 21st to demonstrate to the Competition and Markets Authority that the operation would not significantly reduce the competitive framework in the medium-low range of the washing and cooking categories. Whirlpool’s key argument is “if the merger doesn’t happen we would leave the market and competition would be reduced anyway”. Arçelik seems to understand from the statements of its CEO Hakan Bulgurlu that “the crisis phase of the sector is not short-term” and rationalization therefore appears to be the only way to transfer value to consumers.
Category Archives: Financial
Funky appliance company in administration
The Funky appliances have filled for administration
Veravent becomes the new official Asko distributor in Spain
Asko announces a new collaboration agreement with Veravent, which will become the official distributor of the brand in Spain. This agreement represents a firm step in Asko’s commitment to establishing a robust and expansive business, capable of reaching each of its clients in the Spanish market in a personalized way.announces a new collaboration agreement with Veravent, which will become the official distributor of the brand in Spain. This agreement represents a firm step in Asko’s commitment to establishing a robust and expansive business, capable of reaching each of its clients in the Spanish market in a personalized way.
Glen Dimplex announces proposals which would close Whiston factory
Operations at the Stoney Lane factory will cease under proposals put forward by the company.
Glen Dimplex says it plans to relocate production following a “comprehensive review” was carried out to ensure a “sustainable future” for the business.
The firm says it has proposed “significant changes to our UK business operations”. If the proposals go ahead, production at the Whiston site will cease and the factory will close. spokesperson for Glen Dimplex Home Appliances said: “We have had to make a difficult announcement to our staff and key stakeholders about our Prescot plant.
“Our proposals to relocate production come after a comprehensive review and are aimed at ensuring a sustainable future for the businessThis includes a proposal to relocate all production to leading international partners to leverage economies of scale and access latest technologies.
“If the proposals proceed, production at our Prescot manufacturing facility would cease, leading to the eventual closure of the site.”As well as being our manufacturing base for Lec Medical refrigeration products and Belling and Stoves cooking appliances, on-site departments at Prescot include payroll, supply chain, technical, administrative and support staff.
“As part of our strategy to lead the UK market we also plan to enhance our customer service offering, taking advantage of the latest consumer engagement technologies and extending field service coverage. We are in discussions with leading UK players in this area to establish the best solution for the business.
“In addition, we propose to simplify the organisational structure of our support functions to align with our revised operating model, and remaining staff would move to a new office facility in the area.
“Regrettably the proposal may lead to redundancies across affected functions. Our immediate priority and focus is our duty of care to colleagues whose roles cannot be moved to other UK businesses within the group and we will be doing everything we can to support them during this time.”
Home appliance giant Midea’s revenue up 7.7 percent in January-September
Midea Group saw its revenue rise 7.67 percent year on year in the first three quarters of 2023,The company realized a total net profit of 27.7 billion yuan during the period, up 13.27 percent year on year, according to the report.
In the third quarter alone, Midea Group achieved a revenue of 94.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.32 percent, and a net profit of 9.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.93 percent.
To date, the Fortune 500 company has 31 research and development centers and 40 major production bases worldwide.
Groupe SEB Results
Groupe SEB maintains its momentum for a return to historical profitability levels. Consumer business delivered solid organic growth in sales, on par with that of the second quarter, driven by innovation initiatives across all our regions. The Professional business posts very good results thanks to record sales in coffee. The Group enjoyed a number of commercial successes in 2023 with, in particular, the roll-out of major contracts, as well as a solid core business. Hence, they confirm the Group objectives for the full year, respectively mid-single digit organic revenue growth and an increase in Operating Result from Activity of at least 10%.” Stanislas de Gramont , Chief Executive Officer of Groupe
Electrolux cost reduction
The Electrolux Group continues its cost reduction project in order to improve margins. The goal is to achieve savings of 10-11 billion Swedish crowns (840-920 million euros) in 2024 compared to 2022. In the past the savings target was 7 billion crowns.
Among the measures announced when sharing Q3 results, the group will be reorganized into three regional divisions and two global product lines reporting to the CEO to reduce top management levels.The company posted a third-quarter net profit of SEK123 million from a loss of SEK605 million,Sales fell 5.2% to SEK33.43 billion, versus the SEK34.1 billion
Elica results
Elica turnover -14% in the first 9 months but margins hold up.The good performance of own brands does not compensate for the continuous slowdown in OEM orders in cooking and recently also in heat pumps Board of Directors of Elica SpA approved the results as of 30 September 2023. Revenues fell significantly: 360 million which means -14% compared to the first 9 months of 2022. The weakness of cooking continued, aggravated by a significant slowdown in the heating motors segment.
In this context, Elica managed to defend the margin which remained at 10.4%, no small achievement for an industrial company. In fact, EBITDA fell consistently with sales: -13.4%. The same goes for profits: 9.6 million, i.e. 13.3% less than the first 9 months of last year. Debt did not increase compared to the previous quarter: 47 million.
Cooking: – 14%
The Cooking division, which represents 77% of total turnover, recorded a decline of -14.6% (-13.7% at constant exchange rates and scope). The destocking phase in the OEM area continues , recording a significant double-digit contraction. In other words: Elica’s client brands do not sell and therefore produce less and do not buy components. Elica’s own brands perform better than the market and are more profitableDespite a persistent negative scenario, we proactively and quickly addressed unexpected challenges, integrating these variables into our managerial style, rather than playing defense. The actions and projects launched, both at product and distribution level, will give us the possibility of restarting at double speed as soon as the market becomes receptive again and – even in the event of a still difficult scenario – they will be further levers to pull to start again to grow ” declared Francesco Casoli, President of Elica.
Electrolux new chairman
As previously communicated, Staffan Bohman has announced that he will not be available for re-election at the Annual General Meeting 2024. The Nomination Committee proposes that Torbjörn Lööf is elected as new Chairman of the Board at the Annual General Meeting of AB Electrolux on March, 27, 2024.
Torbjörn Lööf is Board member of Husqvarna AB, Essity Aktiebolag, AB Blåkläder and Mercer International Inc. During the period 1989-2020, Torbjörn Lööf has held several senior management positions within the IKEA-sphere. Among other positions, he has been CEO of Inter IKEA Holding, Inter IKEA Systems and IKEA of Sweden. He has also held senior management positions at IKEA in Sweden and Italy and been Chairman and Board member of numerous IKEA-companies.
Torbjörn Lööf is born 1965 and is a Swedish citizen.
Torbjörn Lööf has a solid background within the IKEA-sphere with extensive experience of working with a strong brand, global supply chains and strategic ability to develop and successfully adapt the business in a changing global environment as well as experience as Board member of public companies. It is the opinion of the Nomination Committee that this makes him very well suited as Chairman of AB Electrolux to lead the company’s ongoing work to sharpen its strategic focus to grow profitably in selected home appliance categories in the mid- and premium segments and enable return to good results and profitability levels and achieving the company’s financial targets.
The Nomination Committee’s complete proposal will be presented in the notice to the Annual General Meeting 2024
EU antitrust approves Whirlpool-Arçelik merger
The European Antitrust has approved the merger of Whirlpool ‘s activities in Europe with those of Arçelik into Beko Europe . European Commission officials believe that the union of the former Whirlpool EMEA brands with Turkish ones does not lead to dominant positions.
The start of the operation announced in January 2023, however, must wait until the spring of 2024 when the English Antitrust Authority will complete its in-depth investigation having detected in an initial analysis the risk of a significant reduction in competition, especially in some areas of the market .
Whirlpool confident of a ‘green light’ also from London
Hailing the EU Commission’s decision, Whirlpool said it was confident that the CMA, at the end of the investigation, would also agree with the assessments expressed at the European level. However, the operation will be carried out, at worst, giving up access to the English market for some brandsThe Whirlpool-Arçelik operation in brief
Subject of the agreement: The agreement includes Whirlpool’s 38 European subsidiaries and 9 production sites in Italy, Poland, Slovakia and the United Kingdom, as well as Arçelik’s 2 production plants in Romania and its 25 European subsidiaries. Together, this will result in a production capacity of approximately 24 million white products per year.
Contractors . Shareholders of the new company are Whirlpool Emea Holdings LLC and Ardutch, a wholly owned subsidiary of Arçelik, a Dutch holding company through which Arçelik controls its activities in Europe. The deal will see both Ardutch and Whirlpool transfer their European subsidiaries to new Chinese company Beko Europe.
Subdivision of shares. After these transfers, it is expected that 75% of the new company will be allocated to Ardutch BV and 25% to Whirlpool. The final post-closing ownership ratio will be determined taking into account the parties’ respective 2022 EBITDA, net asset values, net debt and net working capital.
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