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.
Tag Archives: iRobot
Dreame
Consumer tech brand Dreame Technology moves into the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, making its robotic vacuums available on local platforms
The Shanghai-based smart home appliances maker, Dreame Technology, with product lines that include robotic vacuum cleaners, wet-and-dry vacuums and personal care products, is enlarging its European footprint by moving into the Benelux region. The brand has already become popular in other parts of Europe, like in Germany where its L10s Ultra ranked 1st in the robotic vacuum category on Amazon Germany during Black Friday 2022.
Fuelled by its existing success on the continent, Dreame Technology has joined forces with local retailers Ochama, Bol, Art&Craft, and Robostofzuigers to offer its products through local retail platforms in these countries.Robotic vacuum cleaners
Through these partnerships, Dreame Technology is launching multiple collections, including two of its flagship products in the robotic vacuum category — the L10s Ultra and the D10 Plus.
The L10s Ultra combines popular robotic cleaning technologies, such as auto-emptying and automatic mop cleaning for fully automated cleaning and includes a powerful vacuuming capacity with 5,300Pa of suction, robust mopping with two rotary mops and mop self-cleaning. The D10 Plus offers up to 45 days of AI-powered automated vacuuming and cleaning with its high-capacity automatic emptying feature and powerful 4,000Pa suction and multi-surface brush.
To launch its presence in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, the smart appliances maker will be offering a number of special promotions and discounts of up to 13% through its local partners.
Established in 2017, Dreame Technology, is an innovative consumer product company focused on smart home appliances. In addition to its robotic vacuum cleaners, the firm also offers wet-and-dry vacuums and cordless vacuums, such as the H12 Pro and T30.
Amazon’s takeover bid on iRobot
Amazon has put $ 1.7 billion on the table to buy the entirety of the shares of iRobot, the American company known worldwide for the Roomba series of robot vacuum cleaners, as reported by the Wall Street Journal . Although the company is the reference brand in the sector, it has probably suffered from the growing competition due to the success of the category and in recent months it has lost profitability closing its balance sheets in deficit.
The stock, which was worth 68 dollars at the beginning of 2022, had dropped to around 35 in mid-July and then climbed back to 50 dollars per share. Amazon offering $ 61 in cash provides a premium of around 20%. The total investment envisaged by Amazon: 1.7 billion, is slightly higher than the 2021 turnover: 1.56 billion. Amazon is also committed to clearing the company’s debt.
The market does not seem to expect a further offer. Amazon is committed to building an ecosystem of home appliances to make Alexa the ‘smart home’ hub competing with Google.
IRobot financial
iRobot announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended January 1, 2022. The company revenue for the fourth quarter of 2021 declined 16% to 455.4 million dollar from 544.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2020. Full-year 2021 revenue, instead, recorded an increase of 9% with a total of 1,565.0 million dollar (1,430.4 million dollar in 2020).
Regarding the geographical areas, iRobot fourth-quarter 2021 revenue declined 29% in the U.S. and 2% in Emea, which was partially offset by 19% growth in Japan. Full-year 2021 revenue grew 22% in Emea, 15% in Japan and 1% in the U.S. Mid-tier and premium robots accounted for 81% of fourth-quarter 2021 robot sales, versus 78% from the prior year’s fourth quarter. Mid-tier and premium robots represented 83% of full-year 2021 robot sales, compared with 78% in 2020.
iRobot have solid second quarter 2021
The second quarter of 2021 iRobot reached a revenue of 365.6 million dollar, an increase of 31% from 279.9 million dollar in the second quarter of 2020. The growth primarily reflected healthy demand from retailers in North America and from the company’s retail and distribution partners in Emea. Revenue for the first half of 2021 recorded a 668.9 million dollar versus 472.4 million in the first half of 2020. The second-quarter 2021 revenue performance was highlighted by 40% growth in the U.S., 29% in Emea and 7% in Japan over the prior year period. Mid-tier and premium robots, which accounted for 82% of total quarterly robot sales, marked a 42% revenue growth.
iRobot®, the leading global consumer robot company, designs and builds robots that empower people to do more both inside and outside of the home. iRobot created the home robot cleaning category with the introduction of its Roomba® Robot Vacuum in 2002. Today, iRobot is a global enterprise that has sold more than 30 million robots worldwide. iRobot’s product line, including the Roomba and the Braava® family of mopping robots, feature proprietary technologies and advanced concepts in cleaning, mapping and navigation. iRobot engineers are building an ecosystem of robots and technologies to enable the smart home. For more information about iRobot, please visit www.irobot.com.
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