LG Electronics said Friday it predicted its first-quarter operating earnings at 1.5 trillion won ($1.14 billion), which will likely be the company’s second-highest profit for the January-March period, outpacing Samsung Electronics’ financial result for the first time in more than a decade.Details on each business sector’s estimated figures were not available in Friday’s earnings guidance, but market watchers expect that LG’s key business divisions for home appliances, TVs and vehicle components put up solid results in the January-March period.
Category Archives: Financial
Amazon takeover of iRobot faces UK watchdog review
Amazon’s planned takeover of Roomba vacuum cleaner maker iRobot is being reviewed by the UK’s competition watchdog.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is looking at whether the deal could lead to “a substantial lessening of competition”.
Amazon is seeking to grow its operations for smart home appliances.
Both Amazon and iRobot have both said they are “working co-operatively” with regulators.
Amazon announced it was buying iRobot last year in a $1.7bn (£1.4bn) takeover deal.
Roomba models sell in the UK from £249, with some costing up to £899.Both Amazon and Massachusetts-based iRobot said they were “working co-operatively” with the relevant regulators over the merger.
LG Electronics Ranks 1st in World Home Appliance Market Single Brands in 2022
Haier took first place in terms of sales in the global home appliance market in 2022. This is the result of making a series of M&A deals with GE based in the United States, Fisher & Paykel based in New Zealand and Candy, based in Italy. By brands rather than sales revenue, LG Electronics maintained its No. 1 position.
According to Haier’s business report on April 4, sales of Haier’s home appliance division, excluding electronic parts and TVs, were tallied at 227.94677 billion yuan (about 43.7658 trillion won or US$33.3193 billion) in 2022. During the same period, sales of LG Electronics’ H&A Division in charge of the home appliance business amounted to 29.8955 trillion won (US$22.7613 billion), falling behind Haier by 14 trillion won (US$11 billion). Whirlpool recorded 25.4834 trillion won (US$19.4021 billion). A year ago, in 2021, Haier also took the world’s No. 1 spot in household appliances. At the time, its sales were about 39.2187 trillion won (US$29.8680 billion), a difference of more than 12 trillion won from LG Electronics’ 27.1097 trillion won (US$20.6461 billion).
Among Korean companies, LG Electronics surpassed Whirlpool in the United States in terms of sales, becoming the global No. 1 home electronics company for the first time in 2020. It maintained its No. 1 position for two consecutive years until last year. However, this is the result of overlookingoverlooking Haier, which is relatively unknown in Korea. “It is difficult to directly compare Haier’s group sales, which are the consolidated sales of several brands such as GE, which Haier took over, and LG Electronics’ sales are sales posted by one single brand,” LG Electronics said with reference to this.
Haier rose to prominence on the world stage when it bought foreign home appliance companies. After buying Japan’s Sanyo, it even took over the home appliance division from GE in the United States in early 2016. As of the end of 2014, before GE was in talks with Haier over selling off its home appliance business unit from GE, the unit’s sales sat at 9 trillion won or about US$8.44 billion. Haier has grown tremendously since the acquisition of the unit from GE. Haier’s home appliance sales jumped 1.5 times from about 12 trillion won (US$9.1 billion) in 2015 just before the acquisition of the unit to 18 trillion won (US$14 billion) in 2016.
Haier’s purchases of overseas home appliance companies were made in order to break away from its low-priced brand image as a Chinese company as well as to increase its size, analysts say. Recently, Haier is focusing on the smart home business while emphasizing its Internet of Things-based premium home appliance strategy.
Miele subsidiary Agrilution ends business with automated greenhouses
Daily freshly harvested salads and herbs from an automatically controlled greenhouse (‘Plantcube’) – with this concept, the Munich-based start-up Agrilution wanted to bring the idea of vertical farming into the home. Since the end of 2019, this has been happening under the umbrella of the Miele Group. Now, the Gütersloh-based household appliance company has announced that it will no longer be continuing the business with the Plantcubes due to a lack of economic prospects. This affects almost 40 salaried as well as additional student employees, who have been given notice of termination due to the closure of the business on June 30, 2023. The approximately 650 users, who also purchased their seeds (‘Seedbars’) through Agrilution, will soon receive an offer to buy back their equipment.
Experts understand ‘vertical farming’ as the space-saving supply of fresh food via large, multi-storey greenhouses. Agrilution itself was founded in 2013, but then had to file for insolvency proceedings in 2019 after a financing round could not be realised as planned. After the opening of insolvency proceedings, Miele took over the brand, the know-how and almost all employees in a so-called asset deal and transferred them to the newly founded 100% subsidiary Agrilution Systems GmbH.
Over the past few years, with intensive financial and technical support from Miele, work has been done to guide the business model, product portfolio and workforce into a sustainable marketable future. ‘Unfortunately, however, it has since become apparent that demand has fallen far short of expectations,’ says Gernot Trettenbrein, Senior Vice President New Growth Factory, amongst others responsible for new business areas at Miele. In addition, this product was marketed at over 3,000 euros due to its technical complexity.
In order to make the Plantcube attractive to broader target groups, an additional series was to be launched at a significantly lower entry price. However, this could no longer be realised due to the skyrocketing costs of materials, energy and logistics. As a result, after careful consideration of all available options, the decision was made not to pursue the plantcube business any further. In conjunction with this, Agrilution’s business operations will cease on June 30, 2023. Miele would like to thank the Agrilution team for their dedicated service and wishes all employees the success they deserve in their future careers.
The dealers who marketed Agrilution’s Plantcube as resellers have already been informed separately by Agrilution, as have all end customers and other users. Furthermore, the company has announced that it will buy back all Plantcubes that are in use or still in stock. Detailed offers will follow within the next few weeks
Elica presents the 2022 Sustainability Report
Elica spa has published the 2022 edition of the Sustainability Report under the slogan “Aspira, Inspira” which represents the ability to continuously imagine innovative and sustainable solutions for the future because every great idea, just like every great company, is born from an inspiration . Improving air quality has always been the starting point. Inspiring people and your target market is the next step.
Despite the difficult context, Elica achieved particularly challenging goals in 2022, breaking its own records for the second consecutive year. The consolidation of its global leadership was made possible by excellent management and financial performance and by a strategic “Sustainability Roadmap” based on three pillars: production and products with low environmental impact, people and governance.
During 2022, the Group used 100% renewable energy in almost all of its production sites in Italy and Poland. This policy has been accompanied by some energy efficiency projects which have contributed to further limiting our carbon footprint.
Electrolux invests 110 million in Susegana
If the unions accept measures aimed at increasing productivity, the Treviso plant could become the European hub in the production of mid-range built-in refrigerators with an annual production of 1.1 million pieces Electrolux is considering investing 110 million euros in the period 2024-2026 to produce built-in refrigerators by expanding the Susegana plant. As reported by Il Sole 24 Ore on 29 November, the announcement of the Susegana option came after Electrolux last year, bet 102 million euros on the dishwasher factory in Solaro (Milan)
Electrolux had announced,,the closure of the Hungarian factory in Nyíregyháza, the largest in Europe dedicated to the production of refrigerators.
In return, however, the Swedish company has asked the unions to improve productivity. In a meeting with the union representatives (Fiom, Fim and Uilm), the company explained the project to make Susegana a reference point for the production of built-in refrigerators.
In the high-end range, products with retail prices above a thousand euros, the new products of the Genesi platform are producing results in line with the multinational’s expectations. Now Electrolux wants to reduce costs in productions aimed at the mid-market segment.110 million euros of investments will go to a new Genesi line, which would be the third, and then to redo and modernize the technological departments, optimizing logistics and supply flows.
Electrolux has explained to the unions that it will be necessary to reach by 2027 the production of 1.1 million pieces per year through a significant number of permanent hirings.
BSH end of year brief
Today’s Annual Press Briefing closes the fiscal year 2022. BSH look back on a successful year in a volatile and turbulent global environment.BSH did it again!
Bradshaw Luxury Appliances has been placed into administration
The company, which distributed premium indoor and outdoor kitchen appliance brands such as Steel Cucine, Gaggenau, Kuppersbusch, Lynx, Fisher and Paykel, Kalamazoo, Deli Vita and Sub-Zero and Wolf, entered administration on March 8.
DOMESTIC APPLIANCE FIRM BOUGHT BY PACIFICA GROUP
Kent-based domestic appliance repairs, sales and servicing firm has been bought by industry giant Pacifica Group.
From its premises in Sittingbourne, Autowash has a team of 11 engineers who provide appliance repair cover the to the Kent area, working with a number of high-profile manufacturers.
It supports insurance companies with policy-covered repairs and has contracts with councils, letting agents, housing associations and schools, as well as supporting local charities.
Autowash has been in business since 1985 and employs a total team of 20.
The acquisition is part of Pacifica’s local strategy; creating a network of regional repairers offering consumers and businesses access to directly employed engineers.
It partners with brands such as such as AEG, Zanussi, Electrolux, Sony, Hisense, Hoover Candy, Haier, Servis, Electra and LG, among others.
Autowash is the latest business to join Pacifica Group following its acquisition of Service 87 in Guildford, Highland Appliance Services in Inverness and JK Domestics in Liverpool all taking place in 2022
SCREWFIX ACQUIRES ASSETS OF CONNECT DISTRIBUTION SERVICES LIMITED
Screwfix, the UK’s leading omnichannel trade retailer and part of Kingfisher plc, today announces it has acquired the stock, intellectual property, contracts and fixed assets of Connect Distribution Services out of administration, for a cash consideration of £3 million, following the appointment of Alvarez & Marsal as administrators.
Connect Distribution Services Limited is the leading retailer of appliance spares, accessories and consumables to both tradespeople and consumers through digital and telephone channels.Screwfix will continue to operate the business as a going concern, acquiring its e-commerce platforms, stock, intellectual property and product data, with over 400 current Connect Distribution Services employees transferring to Kingfisher group.
Connect Distribution Services’ online trading brands, which include well-known sites such as eSpares, BuySpares, 4OurHouse and the Connect Trade Portal, will continue to operate as normal.
There are many opportunities for synergy, with both businesses serving B2B and B2C customers through leading digital and fulfilment platforms. Over time, Screwfix will explore opportunities to enable customers to Click & Collect orders through Screwfix’s convenient nationwide store network. There is also potential to generate synergies with other parts of the Kingfisher Group
Mike Denny, Alvarez & Marsal, Joint Administrator of Connect Distribution Services said: “We are delighted to have completed a sale of the majority of the business and assets of the CDSL group of companies to Screwfix, saving over 400 jobs. We wish the business every success under its new ownership.”
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