Strategy in TECH...
By now many of us are deep in our planning for 2022. What factors should you consider as you think about the business conditions you face next year? Will 2022 be more of the same as 2021? Or will trends be more negative…or more positive?
Snap One Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SNPO) announced the results for its fiscal 2021 third quarter last week and said that thanks in part to an August 2021 price increase and continued expansion of its dealer base, the company booked a substantial revenue increase to $260.7 million, or 15% higher than the same quarter the year before. However, the company additionally reported a net loss of -$21.5 million, way below the net income of $1.4 million in the quarter last year, due to a significant increase in SG&A expenses.
Emerald Holding, Inc. [NYSE:EEX] (Emerald), formerly Emerald Expositions and owner of the CEDIA Expo and CE Pro, announced this week that, thanks to the restart of live events in the third quarter of fiscal 2021, they were able to see a substantial reduction in their net losses on a significant revenue gain as compared to the same quarter in 2020 – the year of COVID shutdowns. While the company is still battling its event cancellation insurance providers in a California court for reimbursement for past canceled and impacted events, they say that they see the road to recovery ahead.
CEDIA recently filed their Form 990 with the IRS – a required filing by non-profits disclosing key financial data – and for the first time in a while, I found some interesting and somewhat confusing things in there. Yes, I obtain the organization’s 990 filings every year just to get a sense of how things are going. Like all of us, the organization is filing for, at best, the previous year and often they request and receive an extension. Hence, we are just now getting a glimpse of their 2019 results…and it was an eye-opener.
Azione Unlimited announced today that it has partnered with Nationwide Marketing Group, a group representing more than 14,000 storefronts made up largely of appliance, furniture, and electronics retailers. While Nationwide may not be an immediately obvious choice as a partner for Azione, the custom integration specialist group maintains that it makes perfect sense as they say integrators must be able “to address all of their clients’ needs, no matter the room in the home.”
CI coaching business Vital announced this week that well-known industry veteran Lawrence Davis has joined the company as its new VP of Business Development. The company says that this move is “the first step in their growth plan.”
Moody’s Investors Service, one of the nation’s largest credit rating agencies, announced last week that it has raised the credit rating of Guitar Center, the owner of custom integration company Audio Visual Design Group. Guitar Center has struggled for years, finally falling into bankruptcy – from which it emerged about ten months ago in December 2020.
Nice, a global manufacturer of Smart Home, Security, and Home & Building Automation products based in Italy, announced today that it has acquired Nortek Security & Control – purchased from Melrose plc for $285 million. The move expands Nice’s portfolio and strengthens its North American presence.
As I am sure that most readers of this post will know, during CEDIA Expo at the beginning of September, I published a continuously updated post tracking which previously announced exhibitors subsequently made the decision to pull out of the event as the COVID Delta variant raged on. A remarkable realization occurred as I worked on that post, literally speaking with dozens, if not hundreds, of exhibitors and attendees for that event – many of them were confused about who owned the CEDIA Expo!
Melrose PLC, the private equity turnaround expert that purchased the entirety of Nortek back in 2016, unceremoniously let it slip in a bullet point of a report on financial results, that it has found a buyer for the last remaining piece of the Nortek puzzle they have struggled to turn around over the years. Although they did not name the buyer, Melrose says a contract has been signed for a $285 million deal – remarkably low considering all the brands included in this transaction.
