Sennheiser Group has published its results for the 2013 fiscal year. Its figures for 2013 show revenue remained roughly constant, while return on sales was a middling single-digit figure. Sennheiser Group’s profit last year was 14.3 million Euros, a significant decline as against the two previous years. According to the company, “As a family-owned business, we pursue a strategically oriented business policy. This means there may be some years in which we will accept a lesser profit in order to be more successful in the long run.”
Sennheiser Group sales grew one percent to 590.5 million Euros in 2013, which is equivalent to an exchange-rated adjusted figure of 606.9 or a growth rate of nearly four percent. Asia-Pacific recorded the strongest advance, as revenues increased by more than six percent, topping 100 million for the first time. North and South America remained essentially unchanged at 147.1 million, whereas Europe confirmed its status as the group’s largest region by sales with constant revenues of 342.1 million Euros.
A breakdown of sales figures by business divisions shows a solid increase in Consumer Electronics, where sales grew more than four percent to 300.5 million Euros. Consumer products accounted for more than half of Sennheiser Group’s revenue in 2013. The Integrated Systems Division reported substantial growth of two percent to a total of 92.7 million Euros, whereas the Professional Systems Division contributed 197.2 million Euros, or 33 percent, to the Group’s total revenues.
Sennheiser is also expanding its research and development activities. Expenditures in this area amounted to 40.6 million Euros, up by 2.1 million, while headcount in R&D rose by almost 12 percent to 323. As an average across the fiscal year, Sennheiser Group headcount rose by slightly more than nine percent to 2,542, of which 1,303 (51 percent) are based in Germany and 1,239 (49 percent) abroad.