Confirming the successful acquisition - effective March 1, 2022 - Sonova says that Sennheiser consumer products will now be a fourth business unit, which will "further broaden Sonova’s attractive portfolio of products and expand its channel presence and customer base." Martin Grieder, which was formerly leading the Phonak business, and more recently was the Marketing head for Sonova's Phonak, Unitron and Hansaton brands, will lead the Consumer Hearing business and represent it on the Sonova Management Board.
The new Sonova Consumer Hearing business will now seek to capture growth opportunities in the fast-growing market for true wireless earbuds, the emerging segment of speech-enhanced hearables, as well as expand Sennheiser’s strong position in "audiophile" headphones. As part of the acquisition, Sonova has secured a perpetual license for the Sennheiser brand, under which both existing and new consumer hearing devices will be marketed.
"Reflecting the seasonality of the acquired business as well as current supply shortages of microelectronic components, we do not expect a material contribution to consolidated sales and adjusted EBITA in the final month of the 2021/22 financial year," Sonova adds in the statement.
"A warm welcome to the new colleagues who have joined us from Sennheiser. Linking the complementary strengths of Sonova and Sennheiser, we will now reach even more consumers at different stages of their hearing journey, creating a new path for sustainable growth for our company. We are convinced that our expanded offering of personal audio devices with speech enhancement will be a key contributor to increase the adoption of hearing solutions,” says Arnd Kaldowski, CEO of Sonova.
Sennheiser Professional Audio
After 50 years, Sennheiser will now be concentrating "once again" fully on the professional business, Daniel and Andreas, the two co-CEOs reinforce, establishing a demarcation from the 75 years of Sennheiser's history, and the moment when its grand-father's company fully embraced consumer-oriented products.
Sennheiser will now be operating with three business units: Pro Audio, Business Communication and Neumann.Berlin, aiming to "achieve sustainable growth and further expand its strong global position as a provider of professional audio solutions."
"From now on, we are looking forward to working even more closely with our customers in the professional sector and being even closer to the market. This is where we will leverage all of our knowledge and extensive expertise as one of the world's leading companies in the audio industry," says Andreas Sennheiser.
In recent years, the Sennheiser Group has been moving in that direction of becoming professional audio only company. "We have transformed the company and - despite the pandemic - can look back on a very successful financial year: we were not only able to meet our sales targets for 2021 in all business areas, but even exceeded our own expectations despite the fact that the event industry in particular remained characterized by uncertainty for the second year in a row due to the COVID-19 pandemic," comments Daniel Sennheiser.
"As a family-owned company, we want to grow sustainably through our own efforts. To achieve this, we are investing significantly in our three business units," Andreas Sennheiser adds.
In the Pro Audio unit, Sennheiser plans to lead in the live and broadcast business and expand its software solutions, while expanding into semi-professional applications, such as audio-for-video. In the Business Communications unit, Sennheiser will expand its portfolio of audio solutions for education and corporate applications, following market trends.
Kept as a separate business unit, Neumann.Berlin will focus on studio-quality audio solutions and Sennheiser confirms the intention to expand it with a strong focus on digital workflows and extended software and service solutions, as well as with new product offerings, specifically identifying "growth opportunities in the areas of mobile working, streaming and immersive audio."
The Sennheiser professional audio product portfolio encompasses wireless microphone and monitor systems, wired microphones, conference and information technology, headphones for professional use, streaming technologies, and 3D audio technologies and software. The Sennheiser Group includes Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG, Wedemark (Germany), Georg Neumann GmbH, Berlin (Germany), Sennheiser Streaming Technologies, Wedemark (Germany), Dear Reality, Düsseldorf (Germany), and Sennheiser Entwicklungs GmbH, Wedemark (Germany). In addition, Sennheiser has a total of four development centers worldwide, with three in Germany (Wennebostel. Berlin, Duisburg) and one in Switzerland (Zurich), plus three production locations in Wennebostel (Germany), Albuquerque (USA), and Braşov (Romania).
www.sonova.com
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