Bang & Olufsen reports strong start despite tough trading conditions
This news came as the B&O corporate group forecast lower annual profit and sales globally for the third time this year because of weaker orders for its luxury consumer electronics and costs to settle legal disputes.
However, managing director of the Irish B&O franchise, B&C Audio Visual, Billy Peat, said the company has made an extremely strong start to the new financial year, with record numbers of big ticket installations on its books.
“Like everybody else in our industry, market conditions have been extremely tough and certainly footflow into our stores has been adversely affected during the past twelve months. However, this has been more than offset by extremely strong demand in big ticket custom installs,” he said.
B&O have stores in Cork, Dublin and Belfast. Its financial year runs to the end of May.
On a group level B&O fell by 11% yesterday, the most in almost four months, in Copenhagen trading.
Operating profit for the fiscal year that ended in May will come to about 195 million kroner (€26m), the company said, below its prior prediction of between 225 and 275 million kroner.
B&O charges more for its products than the likes of Sony, leaving it vulnerable as the global credit crunch bites.
“The fact we’re heading into an economic slowdown makes the situation much more difficult for them,” said Rune Moller, an analyst at Denmark-based Jyske Bank, with an “accumulate” recommendation on the stock.
