Sennheiser 2009 Annual Report Download - page 32

62CON S OLID ATED MANA G EMEN T REP ORT 2 010 63
CON SOLI D ATED MANA GEME N T RE P ORT 2010
Investments
In 2010, investments in tangible and intangible assets amounted to €12.2 million, which corre-
sponds to a 38.1% drop compared to 2009.
Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG invested €6.4 million. €0.6 million of investments in
tangible assets were for technical equipment and machinery and €2.4 million for furniture and
equipment. The subsidiaries primarily invested in the following: €0.7 million for tangible and
intangible assets at the Irish production site, €1.7 million at the Singapore site and €0.3 million
at the US production site.
Research and Development (R&D)
In 2010, the focus was on numerous new and additional products in the Consumer, Professional
Systems and Installed Sound segments. In January, the Sennheiser Consumer segment began
the year with 22 new headphones, designed specifically for use with portable devices.
Customers have the choice of in-ear or clip-on earphones in varying designs and sizes. Great
importance was placed on creating a high degree of comfort and perfect acoustic properties.
This was complimented by a series of sports headphones that were designed in cooperation
with adidas. The sports headphones CX 680 won the CES Innovations Award at the Consumer
Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
The Consumer segment was strengthened further in fall with new travel headphones and head-
sets, which combine top Sennheiser sound with a high level of active and passive noise
reduction. The model PX 360 was launched, new foldable headphones that completely enclose
the ear. Their Bluetooth variant PX 360 BT can be linked to a multitude of portable video and
audio devices via its wireless interface. In February 2010, Sennheiser presented its customers
with seven new wideband headsets for the business market at the CallCenterWorld in Berlin.
At the beginning of the year, the Professional segment introduced the pocket transmitter SK
5212-II and the receiver series EM 3732-II. In summer, the portfolio was completed with the SKM
5200-II hand transmitter. The products are aimed at professional users with the highest
expectations and provide the maximum degree of flexibility, even in difficult conditions, with a
switching bandwidth of up to 184 MHz. The one-ear, clip-on microphones of the Ear-set series,
which had been launched in fall, were already successfully used by the rock singer P!nk on her
Funhouse tour. The broadcast headset HMD 26 is designed for professional use in loud environ-
ments. It employs ActiveGard™ technology for protecting the ear against sudden volume peaks.
Georg Neumann GmbH expanded its studio microphone product range with the TLM 102.
Neumann took over the sales of studio monitors of the subsidiary K + H Vertriebs- und Entwick-
lungsgesellschaft mbH after the company’s incorporation into Sennheiser and Neumann in
2010. In the future, new studio monitors will be launched under the name of Neumann.
Since 2010, Sennheiser has been offering its customers the opportunity to style their own
individual wired microphones by choosing from several colors and adding their own text and
designs with programs like www.style-your-mic.com. Each microphone is manufactured accord-
ing to the customer’s requirements.
The digital discussion system ADN (Audio Distribution Network) is a premium product for the
conference market. Sennheiser introduced it in 2010 at the Info Comm in Las Vegas. This system
was entirely developed by Sennheiser. It is extremely robust and sports a large number of
features, an appealing design and top sound quality. With this product, Sennheiser is further
expanding its Installed Sound product portfolio.
In 2011, each business division is responsible for its own development activities and will
contribute to the success of each operating unit as well as the Group by launching innovative
and market-driven products.
III. RISK MANAGEMENT
Sennheiser has a controlling system that monitors and manages all business processes within
the Group. It quickly and effectively counteracts deviations. In 2010, the company also started
developing a strategic planning and control process for analyzing and assessing medium- and
long-term opportunities and risks.
Sennheiser was able to emerge from the immediate effects of the global economic and financial
crisis and return to its medium-term growth path in financial year 2010. But the future growth
of the Sennheiser Group will still depend on the economic changes around the world. In order to
disperse risks, the Sennheiser Group will continue to focus on different business areas. In-
creased investments in brand development, particularly in North America, will help to reduce
the company’s dependence on the general economic situation.
Liquid resources, inasmuch as they are not required by subsidiaries for daily business, are
concentrated in the parent company on the basis of a cash pooling program. Cash and cash
equivalents are deposited with several banks and are mainly denominated in euros. As in the
past, Sennheiser implemented a conservative investment strategy with the aim of minimizing
default risks in 2010.
Fluctuations of Sennheiser’s most important trading currencies once again had a significant
impact on business developments in 2010. The company used currency hedges to protect itself,
particularly against the volatility of the exchange rates between the euro and the British pound
as well as the Canadian dollar. The high percentage of turnover generated in US dollars again
created currency risks in 2010. These were successfully offset by concluding an increasing
number of purchases in the US dollar zone, a strategy that the company has been continuously
employing for years.
Outlook