Strategy in TECH...
Core Brands, a division of Nortek, Inc., will announce sweeping new structural and marketing initiatives this coming Tuesday, April 1st, Strata-gee.com has learned from multiple sources. In a recent post on parent company Nortek, we alluded to sources telling us about impending changes in what was to be a major announcement – literally a fundamental change in the way the company does business.
In a recent fiscal year 2012 fourth quarter and full-year report, Nortek, Inc. showed a mixture of hit-and-miss results with fourth quarter sales dropping 5.6% to $505.4 million as compared to Q4 2011’s $535.2 million. Worse yet, the company’s Q4 net loss increased from last year’s $800,000 to a substantial $12.5 million. These results were in spite of the fact that this year’s calendar for the quarter had two more days in it than the quarter last year.
However, Nortek’s overall annual results showed a brighter picture with 2012 sales increasing to $2.2 billion, up 2.8% from the previous year’s $2.14 billion. Net profits in 2012 came in at $9.5 million – a substantial improvement over 2011’s net loss of $55.9 million.
Foxconn International Holdings Ltd. (FIH), announced today that for fiscal year 2012 the company had the biggest loss ever since it listed its stock in 2005. FIH, which says it is the world’s largest contract manufacturer of cellphones, booked a net loss of $316.4 million for the year.
Nortek, Inc. announced today the sudden passing of its Senior Vice President and Treasurer Edward J. Cooney. Mr. Cooney had joined Nortek in 2001 after a 22-year career with Amtrol, Inc. Initially operating as the company’s Vice President and Treasurer, Cooney was named Senior Vice President in 2011.
We learned today that the upcoming CE Exchange event scheduled to be held at the Foxwoods Resort in Mashantucket, CT May 6-8, 2013 will be formally postponed today by its promoters EH Events and CEPro. The event, a more intimate and interactive alternative to typical industry trade shows, took a completely new and fresh approach by making the show regional with education, training, market data, etc. becoming more meaningful as it’s tailored for the local area.
The Nikkei reported today that South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Company has agreed to invest ¥10 billion ($107 million) into former high-flying, now troubled Sharp Corporation as it continues to struggle to raise much-needed cash. According to the report, Sharp will issue the shares to Samsung possibly as early as this month.
The Nikkei in China reported today that it has learned that key Apple, Inc. supplier Foxconn Technology Group (also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.) has stopped plans to expand its production capacity at its large facility in Zhengzhou, China. This is the facility that assembles smartphones such as Apple’s iPhone5 and the news has set Wall Street buzzing that this is another sign of the waning dominance of the formerly powerhouse iOS line.
Separately, Foxconn fueled the fire by additionally announcing a freeze on hiring factory workers at the plant. Reuters is reporting that the Foxconn freeze extends to all of their factories in China.
Nortek, Inc. announced today that it has acquired 2GIG Technologies, Inc. from APX Group, Inc. 2GIG is a designer and supplier of residential security and home automation systems. A privately held company, 2GIG will expand Nortek’s portfolio of installed home systems products.
Yamaha Corporation announced yesterday in Japan that its Board of Directors has ordered a major restructuring of the company’s domestic operations – in one case merging eight separate operating subsidiaries into one. The company has also released results for FY2013 through the third quarter ending December 31, 2012 and revised its annual forecast downward from a profit to break-even as a result of extraordinary charges related to the restructuring as well as sales and profit declines.
Start-up Ube, the new company founded by former CEDIA CEO Utz Baldwin and partners, offers an all-new mobile device-optimized, cloud-based home control technology bringing new power – and new simplicity – to the masses. This new technology could be a highly disruptive game changer with a re-conceived business model that just might gut the heart of the highly lucrative residential systems installer market. Or not…
Today, Ube [pronounced YOU-bee] announced their first major step forward in the wake of their stunning technology show win at last fall’s DEMO 2012 in which the company received the People’s Choice Award earning them $1 million in media from the show’s promoter. Ube has begun a campaign on the crowdfunding website Indiegogo to raise funds so that the company can manufacturer their first 10,000 Wi-Fi smart dimmers. The company also announced a BETA test program open to residential A/V electronics installers and integrators.
