Strategy in TECH...
Melrose Industries Plc has announced that their financial results for fiscal 2020 and it wasn’t pretty. The company swung to a net loss on lower revenues. They said this was mostly due to the Coronavirus pandemic’s massive impact on its GKN Aerospace division. To streamline operations and raise cash, Melrose told the press that it has again put Nortek up for sale.
This week, AudioControl said it has awarded Market Share, a manufacturer sales representative firm, its 2020 Rep of the Year for their home audio products division. Market Share is based in the Pacific Northwest and covers the entire region, including Alaska.
That an exposition company lost money in 2020 is not surprising. That an exposition company (Emerald) that has cancellation insurance to cover lost revenues on every show they own that was cancelled during the year – and still lost $633.6 million in fiscal 2020 – is surprising.
On Wednesday after the close of markets, Sonos announced that it had turned in a record first quarter in their current 2021 fiscal year with revenues up, profits up, long-term debt down and new records set in several performance categories. In fact, actual performance came in so much stronger than the company had originally anticipated, that after just this first quarter of the year they announced they were revising and raising their guidance for their anticipated revenues and profits for the remainder of the fiscal year.
At the end of January, Savant held their popular annual Integrator Summit – its 15th summit ever…but its first such summit held online as a virtual one. In a Zoom meeting with industry media following the summit, President J.C. Murphy recapped the event which is held privately with only Savant integrators in the room.
Savant had a lot to talk about.
Like the hero in their anime movie Demon Slayer, Sony has blown away investors with their latest (and probably last) revision to their fiscal year net profit estimate. Announced on Wednesday, the company now says that it forecasts that it will set a new all-time record net profit for the fiscal year that ends in March. The major reason? A shift in focus away from hardware to services and content revenues and profits.
Moody’s Investors Service is one of the world’s largest credit rating services that offers ratings used by many investors who target debt investing, such as buying corporate bonds or equity investors. Moody’s rating can literally impact – positively or negatively – the interest or coupon rate companies offer their debt at – and therefore can be critical. Recently, Moody’s published a credit rating decision on Wirepath LLC – the company behind SnapAV.
How did Moody’s rate SnapAV? Read on…
A global supply chain shortage of key semiconductors has hit automakers around the world hard, like the automatic braking solution on self-driving cars. The shortage is so severe that auto makers are literally being forced to close factories for weeks as they wait for their supply of chips. As the industry is trying to rebound from a tough 2020, this situation has become so painful, some manufacturers are turning to politicians – asking them to pressure chip manufacturers to prioritize shipments to the auto industry.
Famous New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra once said, “Forecasting is very difficult, especially when it’s about the future.” Yet another wise saying from one of history’s most quoted sages. Even so, lately many regular Strata-gee readers (some of my favorite Strata-gists), have been asking me to do just exactly that – predict the future.
That is such a risky business…only a fool would take such a challenge.
On Monday, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong – also known as JY Lee, J. Y. Lee or Jay Y. Lee – was sentenced to 2½ years in prison for his role in a bribery and embezzlement scheme to influence the President of South Korea in order to increase his share and power in the company. This development is big news in Korea. Samsung Electronics, part of the Samsung family of companies that is the largest conglomerate in South Korea, by itself represents almost 20% of the entire value of all exports from Korea.
