Compared to the previous year Sennheiser has achieved a strong increase in turnover and profit. With a growth rate of 13.5%, the group turnover increased significantly from €468.2 million in 2010 to €531.4 million. After-tax profits rose by 93% in the same period from €23.6 million to €45.7 million. “We are very proud of this result which was achieved across all markets and all product groups”, explained Volker Bartels, speaker of the Executive Management Board. “This increase in turnover is the direct result of a clear focus within our business divisions together with careful cost management. In particular, the extraordinarily positive turnover results in our EMEA and Asia regions have more than compensated for the exchange rate challenges faced by the Dollar region.” As in previous years, the EMEA region remains the company’s strongest market. Sennheiser recorded overall constant growth in the EMEA region of 14.8% and achieved an overall turnover of €324.8 million. €88.7 million of this was achieved in Germany, which brings Germany’s share of total turnover to 16.7%. Positive contribution came from Northern Europe which achieved a growth of 22% and Eastern Europe where turnover increased by 52% compared with 2010. The APAC region also grew significantly above-average: There turnover grew from €59.7 million to €73 million; an increase of 22.3%. In the Americas region Sennheiser maintained continuous growth of 6.4% despite the exchange rate trend throughout 2011. Overall the export quota of the company was 83.3% in 2011. The biggest share of the group’s turnover, with 32.9%, continues to be the headphones business. This is followed by wireless microphones (26.4%), Sennheiser Communications products (9.2%) and wired microphones (7.4%). Audiology products contributed 6% and the share of Georg Neumann studio microphones and monitor speakers stood at 3.6%. The Installed Sound product group achieved 3.3% of the total turnover. As in the previous year; additional offering for the professional user was rewarded by increased growth in 2011. New recording products; such as the MK4 large-diaphragm microphone plus the expansion of the successful evolution-wireless product family within the wireless transmission segment; generated growth within the professional audio market. The same goes for the two new shotgun microphones – the MKH 8060 and 8070, whose natural sound makes them ideal for sports transmission and film production. Compared to 2010, Sennheiser achieved an average overall growth of 20% in 2011 with the professional headsets and wireless microphones product ranges. Research and development (R&D) continued to be important investment fields for Sennheiser in 2011. Spending on R&D remained high at 6% of turnover in order to secure the innovative strength for the company. Sennheiser will also continue to invest in employees. Around 60 new openings are planned for 2012; mainly in technical roles. The company employs a total of 2,183 staff at present with 1,177 of these based in Germany. www.sennheiser.co.uk
