Audiovox Posts Higher Net Sales, Income

TWICE Staff -- TWICE, 10/12/2011

Hauppauge, N.Y. - Audiovox reported higher net sales and net income for its fiscal second quarter, ended August 31.

Net income for the quarter was $3.4 million, compared with net income of $600,000 in the prior year's second quarter. Net sales for the second quarter were $158.3 million, an increase of 22.5 percent, compared with net sales of $129.3 million reported in the comparable year-ago period.

For the fiscal first half net sales were $323.7 million, an increase of 24.7 percent as compared with net sales of $259.6 million for the prior year's first half. First-half net income was $5.9 million, compared with net income of $1.8 million in last year's fiscal first half.

Pat Lavelle, president/CEO, said in a statement, "Through the first half of the year, our business is primarily tracking to plan. Our automotive OEM business continues to grow. Our international operations are performing well, despite weakness in some European countries, and our Klipsch acquisition is meeting plan with a lot of potential to grow in the years ahead. Additionally, car sales over the past few months have rebounded and all signs are pointing to continued strength."

However he added, "Like most in our industry, we continue to be impacted by a slow retail environment and there are some concerns as we enter the all-important holiday season, as many retailers remain cautious in their buying. However, given our performance year-to-date, the strength in our margins, and good management of our expenses and resources, we remain on track to meet our income and EBITDA forecasts for the year."

For the three- and six-month periods, ended Aug. 31, electronics sales were $126.7 million and $259.0 million, an increase of 33.1 percent and 36.5 percent, respectively, over the comparable prior-year periods.

Accessories sales were $31.6 million and $64.7 million, a decrease of 7.2 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively. For both periods, the electronics group was favorably impacted by the addition of Klipsch, improvements in the automotive OEM channel, both domestically and abroad, and increases in for international operations of Audiovox.

Offsetting these increases were lower sales of consumer electronics products and select groups in the audio category, as well as lower sales of accessory products attached to TV sales in the U.S. As a percentage of net sales, electronics represented 80 percent of the net sales for the three and six months, ended Aug. 31, and accessories represented the remaining 20 percent for these periods.

Operating income was $7.7 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2012, compared with operating income of $2 million in the comparable year-ago period. For the fiscal first half, operating income was $11.6 million, compared with an operating loss of $1.3 million in the prior year.