BSH Hišni Aparati, the Slovenian subsidiary of the Bosch and Siemens Home Appliance Group, saw its profits, revenue and the number of employees decrease in 2018 compared to the year before. A drop in business performance is mostly a result of product withdrawals.
Category Archives: Manufacturing
Electrolux Q2 Interim Report 2019:
Highlights of the second quarter of 2019
Net sales amounted to SEK 31,687m (31,354). Sales decline of 2.7%, driven by lower volumes.
Operating income amounted to SEK 1,619m (827), corresponding to a margin of 5.1% (2.6). The comparison period included non-recurring items of SEK -818m.
Price increases fully offset the headwinds from higher raw material costs, trade tariffs and currency as well as lower volumes. Mix improvements mitigated higher investments in marketing and R&D.
Operating cash flow after investments amounted to SEK 384m (1,805).
Income for the period increased to SEK 1,132m (517), and earnings per share was SEK 3.94 (1.80).
The Board has reconfirmed its plan to propose to the shareholders that the Professional Products business area is distributed to the shareholders with the aim to achieve listing on the Nasdaq Stockholm during the first quarter of 2020 or, at the latest, the second quarter of 2020.
President and CEO Jonas Samuelson’s comment
A strong focus on innovation to improve consumer experiences is our guiding compass and a key driver for profitable growth. It is therefore encouraging to see that we once again have a favorable earnings impact from improved mix by selling more high-margin products and we continue to invest in marketing to support the major launches we have this year. Concurrently, price increases continued to offset strong headwinds from higher raw material costs, trade tariffs and currency, and in this quarter also from volume decline. The lower volume was mainly caused by the U.S. private label sales drop. Underlying operating income was in line with last year.
The earnings for our operations in Europe and Professional Products were once again solid and operating income in Latin America increased significantly. In North America, positive price and mix offset higher costs from raw materials and trade tariffs but not fully the volume decline. The business area Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa was impacted by currency headwind and weak sales in Australia.
We re-confirm our market view for 2019 with the exception of Southeast Asia where we now estimate the demand in the region to be slightly positive.
Based on current trade tariff levels, we estimate the negative year-over-year impact from raw materials, trade tariffs and currency to be approximately SEK 1.4-1.6bn in 2019, compared to the previous estimate of approximately SEK 1.7-1.9bn. In the first half of 2019, price has fully offset this headwind and we expect that to be the case also for 2019 as a whole. The uncertainty on trade tariffs continues to impact our visibility.
The preparations for the intended separation and subsequent listing of the Professional Products business area are proceeding according to plan. As the previously announced reasons for the separation are still considered valid the Board has reconfirmed its plan to propose to the shareholders that the Professional Products business area is distributed to the shareholders with the aim to achieve listing on the Nasdaq Stockholm during the first quarter of 2020 or, at the latest, the second quarter of 2020.
Electrolux 100th year is a product launch intensive year and I believe our innovation power will continue to strengthen our competiveness. In addition to significant kitchen range launches in Europe and Asia-Pacific, we have sharpened our offering by being the first to bring Air Fry technology built in to the cooker to the North American market. Looking ahead, I am confident that we are well positioned to create value through our profitable growth strategy.
Franke Group acquired a majority stake in Italian coffee machine manufacturer Dalla Corte
Swiss Franke Group acquired a majority stake in Italian coffee machine manufacturer Dalla Corte at the end of June.
The Milan-based Dalla Corte produces traditional portafilter espresso machines in the premium segment for private and professional use. The company was founded by the Dalla Corte family in 2001 and is known for its multi-boiler technology – developed and patented in the same year – which Franke calls a benchmark for the semi-automatic espresso machine sector.
BSH breaks ground on new dryer and washing machine facility
BSH breaks ground on its first China-based dryer and washing machine facility in Chuzhou on May 8, 2019. With an initial size of 60, 000 square meters and total investment of 1.69 billion Yuan, the facility is scheduled to go into production starting the first quarter of 2021 with a planned annual output of 3.6 million units.
It is a critical step for BSH to deliver its strategy of making Chuzhou its largest production site globally. The new facility comes after BSH’s first Chuzhou-based dishwasher company which was built in 2018 with a total investment of 0.7 billion Yuan and a planned annual output of 2 million units. The first-stage of the dishwasher facility has come on stream since 2018 and before that, the company’s Chuzhou-based refrigerator facility has seen its second-stage project go into operation. The string of investments signals BSH’s efforts in integrating its individual facilities into an industrial park in Chuzhou.
Compared to the company’s existing washing machine facility in Nanjing, the new facility is designed for the production of large-capacity washing machines, drying machines and dryer-washer combos. Plus, it will be established as an example of BSH’s Industry 4.0 strategy that features digitalization throughout the entire process from procurement, production all the way to end consumers.
It is learned that, the facility will be an important production site of the company worldwide after its operation and it will supply Chinese as well as global markets.
Electrolux invests 130 million euros in Susegana
After an agreement with the unions, Electrolux formalizes an investment of around 130 million euros in automation, digitalization and innovation at its production site in Susegana (Treviso).
The investment, which is expected to be completed in 2022, includes two new assembly lines and resources for product and process development. This will support the competitiveness of the Electrolux built-in products in the refrigeration sector and will allow the company to achieve the best levels of performance in the context of the upcoming European regulation on the energy label. The update will also bring ergonomic improvements to workstations throughout the site.
Xiaomi announced its plan of establishing a white goods division
Xiaomi group announced its plan of establishing a white goods division to step up its deployment in major home appliances . This comes after the company unveiled its dual core strategy of Smartphone & AIoT (AI +IoT) at its annual party in January 2019. Wang Chuan, the newly appointed President of White Goods Division who is also Senior Vice President of Xiaomi, will be responsible for the company’s white goods business covering air conditioner, refrigerator and washing machine, and will report directly to Lei Jun, Chairman of the board and CEO of Xiaomi.
Winiadaewoo Electronics launches its latest range of products
Winiadaewoo Electronics launches new range of glass combis, washers, dryers and dishwashers. The combis are characterized by their excellent design finish thanks to their glass door. They also have a capacity of 362L that allows to store any type of food inside the refrigerator and keep them in perfect condition … Then it has an energy class of A ++ that helps to save energy and consumption.
It also contains an electronic control panel that can regulate the temperature comfortably from the outside and meet the needs of the consumer. Through this electronic panel you can also use the Eco mode (holiday mode) which function is to maintain a stable temperature by cooling less food, thus also generating a minimum energy consumption.
On the other hand, it also renews the range of washing machines as the new models have a better panel design and finish. Also generating a comfortable use for consumers. In addition, regarding the dryers, also launches two new models; one of condensation and another with heat pump.
Finally, the new dishwashers also offer better performance with its Gentle Silence technology and also save water and energy consumption with its A ++ energy class.
Miele Sustainability Report is available
The new Miele Sustainability Report is available for download. For the first time, Miele refers to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations and commits itself to the two-degree goal of international climate policy. Like the previous reports, this also follows the guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).
Samsung Electronics’ BESPOKE Refrigerator
The BESPOKE refrigerator, a customizable refrigerator recently launched by Samsung Electronics, is getting favorable reviews from overseas media outlets. With the new refrigerator, customers can customize their own configurations of material, color, sizing and other feature choices. It comes in eight sizes and nine color panels, allowing the customer to build a refrigerator depending on their taste, residential space and family size.
Samsung Electronics said on July 4 that Fast Company, a U.S. economic media outlet, recently reviewed BESPOKE in an article entitled “This just might be the world’s most beautiful refrigerator. The article says, “Built from any combination of colors and door configurations, Bespoke’s modular color blocks assemble to look like anything from a stylish locker to an armoire designed by Piet Mondrian.”
“Samsung Electronics has proved that fridges can be as fashionable as they are functional with the release of its new line of BESPOKE refrigerators,” said a reviewer at Reviewed.com, a U.S. website that reviews and recommends products to help readers buy the stuff they need. “The refrigerators look more like abstract artwork than a family fridge.”
Samsung Electronics said that the BESPOKE refrigerator attracted a lot of attention from visitors to the Project Prism showroom, which was launched on July 4 at the Main Gangnam Branch of the Samsung Digital Plaza in Seoul. Project Prism features home appliances that can fit into any lifestyle by allowing customers to personalize the materials, colors, shapes and designs of the products. The number of visitors surpassed 10,000 in four weeks since the refrigerator was launched. The visitors included journalists from Latin America.
“The characteristics of millennial consumers factored in BESPOKE are not limited to Korea, but are global trends,” said Yang Hye-soon, managing director of the Household Appliance Business Division at Samsung.
LG Electronics Q2 operating earnings down 15.4%
LG Electronics Inc. said Friday its second-quarter operating profits are expected to have dropped 15.4 percent from a year earlier, mainly due to its sluggish smartphone business.
In an earnings guidance, the South Korean electronics maker said it expects to post 652.2 billion won ($557 million) in operating profits in the April-June period — far below the average market expectation of around 774 billion won.
Its sales are expected to be 15.6 trillion won in the second quarter, a 4.1 percent surge from a year earlier, the firm said.
The company did not provide detailed performances for each division, saying it will release its earnings report later this month.
Analysts attributed the worse-than-expected earnings to the sluggish mobile business, which was expected to have eroded robust profits from the home appliance division.
They estimated the mobile division’s operating deficits at over 200 billion won in the second quarter, which would mark the ninth consecutive quarterly loss.
Although LG’s first 5G smartphone, the V50 ThinQ, was well-received in the domestic market since its launch in early May, it failed to provide strong momentum to help the mobile division make a turnaround in the second quarter, they noted.
The Korean phone maker launched the V50 in the United States in partnership with Sprint and Verizon in the last two months, respectively, but the initial response was lukewarm with lack of 5G infrastructure in the nation.
LG’s share in the U.S. smartphone market stood at 16 percent in 2018, according to industry tracker Strategy Analytics.
“LG V50 ThinQ failed to contribute sales increase in the North American market,” said Park Gang-hoo, an analyst at Daishin Securities. “Given the heavy marketing costs, the 5G smartphone was limited in improving the mobile division’s profitability.”
Market watchers say strong demand for LG’s home appliances might have improved its overall sales.
LG Electronics has enjoyed brisk sales of products related to air quality, such as air purifiers, dryers and clothing-care home appliances, and revenue from their rental service has also been on the rise as more people opt for renting gadgets.
“The home appliance businesses drove up the overall performance thanks to robust sales of premium lineup and new lifestyle products, such as air purifiers and garment dryers,” Koh Jung-woo, an analyst at NH Investment & Securities, said. “LG’s TV business likely suffered due to weak demand for LCD products and intensifying competition with Chinese makers, and its smartphone division continued to book losses.”
Shares of LG Electronics tumbled 5.22 percent to 72,600 won on the Seoul bourse, far below the KOSPI’s 0.09 percent gain. The earnings guidance was announced before the market closing.
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