Samsung Electronics Co. is likely to post an operating loss in the second quarter on a chip downturn and decline in mobile demand, in what will be the first quarterly loss for the world’s largest memory chip maker in nearly 15 years, according to analysts Sunday.
Samsung Electronics could suffer an operating loss of as much as 1.28 trillion won (US$961 million), according to an estimate by Hi Investment & Securities Co.
Haier Europe – part of Haier Smart Home, number one company globally in major home appliances – announces the acquisition of EuroPalTners Italia (EPI), a company specialized in providing large consumer electronics repair services and customer care.
The operation is in line with Haier Europe’s Zero Distance philosophy, which aims to meet consumers’ needs and expectations also through an effective post sales experience. Thanks to this acquisition, Haier Europe will further enhance the quality and timing of service operations for the Company’s brands, with the aim of offering a solid, high-level after-sales service to its consumers.
EPI has been working with Haier Europe since 2019, providing after sales assistance and value-added services for the Candy and Hoover brands. In 2021, Haier Europe had already acquired a relevant minority stake in EPI to offer a high level after-sales service to its customers. Today, the company has announced the acquisition of the remaining 51% stake, thus gaining full control of EPI.
Elica Spa announced Tuesday that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Ilve that will allow the company to grow in the world of home cooking by also marketing induction ovens and hobs.
Ilve is an Italian company specializing in cooking systems that “has distinguished itself over the years for its vocation for innovation and technical wisdom in steel processing, combined with continuous research in the field of processes and technologies. Together with Ilve, Elica will espouse a philosophy of transition to new markets that will bring both companies and expand their business,” said Elica.
Elica’s stock is up 1.4 percent at EUR2.86 per share
Haier has entered the world of professional tennis as Official Partner of some of the world’s top tennis tournaments.
The sponsorship agreement between Haier, ATP Tour and the Fédération Française de Tennis includes the Grand Slam tournament Roland Garros, the Nitto ATP Finals, two ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (Internazionali BNL d’Italia and Rolex Paris Masters) and three ATP 500 tournaments (Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, Cinch Championship and Hamburg European Open) in 2023.
Online electrical retailer Marks Electrical Group reported record full year revenue of £97.8m, according to a trading update for the year to 31 March 2023.
The results represent a growth rate of 21.5%, up from £80.5m in 2022.
The firm is now expecting to achieve a full year Adjusted EBITDA exceeding £7.5m.
“We are delighted to finish the year with revenue growth of 21.5% to a record £97.8m, especially against the prevailing economic back-drop. This further demonstrates the strength of our business model and the attractiveness and advantage of our market-leading customer offering, as more people continue to discover our brand up and down the country,” Mark Smithson, chief executive officer, commented.
Marks Electrical Group recorded a strong trading period in its fourth quarter, with 20.0% revenue growth to £24.8m – up from £20.7m during the same period in 2022.
It was a good start to the year for Chinese brand Haier Smart Home which has seen strong revenue growth against current industry trends
Haier’s revenue hit RMB 243.514 billion (€32bn) in 2022 versus RMB 227.106 billion (€30.28bn) the previous year. Its net profit attributable to the owners of the parent company amounted to RMB 14.711 billion (€1.9m). Growth in profit exceeded that of revenue, Haier said.
It comes after the brand re-entered the Fortune list of World’s Most Admired companies back in February, and the appliances arm being named Euromonitor No. 1 Global Appliance Brand for the 14th year running.
Drivers for Haier’s success have been attributed to successful brand building strategies and the effective digital transformation of domestic and overseas businesses. It means the consumer electronics giant has been able to report strong growth against the sluggish trend of the home appliance industry.
Meanwhile, Haier Smart Home‘s overseas business grew by 10.3% in the reporting year despite challenges such as high inflation and slowing global consumer demand in 2022.
Haier Smart Home said it accelerated the localisation of its supply chain setup in overseas markets, and fully leveraged its global collaborative advantages to effectively respond to these challenges. The company’s overseas business increased by 10.3% year-on-year in 2022. In the American market, the company’s revenue increased by 9.0% (revenue in local currency increased by 4.6%), under the background that the industry’s major home appliance shipment growth was -6%. In the European market, the company recorded revenue growth of 16.7% while the industry’s sale volume growth was -8.9%.
At home, in the domestic market, Haier reported “continuous growth”, particularly with its premium Casarte brand, which continues to rank No.1 in China.
Finally, Three-Winged Bird, Haier Smart Home’s smart home eco-system brand, has also been a driving force for growth, the company said. “It continuously iterated the so-called “1+3+5+N” smart home solutions, enhancing user value based on its 5 core capabilities including Smart Home Brain capability, scenario solution capability, store operation capability, 1+N delivery capability, and digital tools capability.
During 2022, more than 900 stores of Three-Winged Bird were opened, and the retail sales of the Three-Winged Bird stores increased by 257% year-on-year.
With the continuous deepening of digital transformation, Haier Smart Home’s profitability continued to improve by increasing its resource efficiency and hence, creating room for new expansion in a more sustainable way
This month, LG CEO Cho visited the company’s key production bases in Asia, including Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia, directly looking into key factors of operational advancement strategies, such as quality enhancement, supply chain, cost structure improvement, safety and productivity of vehicle components, home appliances and TVs. Ultimately, the company aims to strengthen competitiveness and growth in key business areas and global markets.
“Let’s further strengthen our market dominance and solidify the foundation for sustainable growth by upgrading our locally-optimized operation methods and providing world-class quality, cost competitiveness and reliable delivery to our customers,” said CEO Cho. “We should look to pioneer future markets with our unmatched innovation and ability to overcome challenges, while holding firm to the belief that opportunities come from delivering exceptional customer experiences.”
The CEO began his Asian tour in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where he was joined by the heads of LG’s Asian subsidiaries for a management meeting. There, he was briefed on the company’s regional performance and discussed the status of individual markets including Vietnam, which serves as a global production base for LG’s electronic devices and home appliances. He also had in-depth talks with the subsidiary heads on a variety of business matters, such as improving production efficiency, verifying mass production processes for new products, enhancing quality control and boosting growth through mutually beneficial partnerships.Departing Vietnam, CEO Cho headed to Thailand to visit the Rayong factory and its home appliance production lines. Next, he traveled to Jakarta, Indonesia to inspect LG’s Cibitung plant, which has become a major TV production base for the company’s premium product lineups, including LG OLED TVs. After Jakarta, the CEO made a stop in the city of Tangerang, meeting staff and looking over facilities at the local LG plant, which focuses primarily on refrigerator production.
“Our Vietnam and Indonesia subsidiaries now form a complete business structure, having recently added a local R&D subsidiary to the production and sales corporations already in place,” noted CEO Cho, who also called on all subsidiaries in the Asia region to accelerate their business management by implementing active localization strategiesLast year, the company achieved sales of more than KRW 7.8 trillion in the Asian market, continuously increasing sales by about KRW 1 trillion yearly with double-digit growth over the past two years.This year alone, the CEO has already spent more than 150 hours in the air visiting nine countries across North America, Europe, Asia and Central and South America – participating in major events, including CES 2023 and AHR Expo in the U.S.A. and ISE 2023 in Spain, and touring various LG facilities in Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Australia
The divestment of the Electrolux Group manufacturing facility in Memphis, Tennessee, USA, will not be completed as expected since the intended buyer has failed to proceed to closing. Electrolux Group will now seek an alternative buyer.
As earlier communicated, completion of the divestment of the facility was contingent on various factors. The intended buyer has defaulted on its obligations and the agreement is therefore terminated.
In the now terminated contract, communicated on October 12 and December 19, 2022, Electrolux Group had agreed to divest the Memphis facility for a cash consideration of USD 82.5m (approx. SEK 930m). Production in Memphis stopped on June 30, 2022, and the operations have been transferred to the new facility in Springfield, Tennessee.
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.
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.
