Pioneer CE Sales Rise 12%, Loss Cut

By Jeff Malester On Feb 13 2006 - 8:00am

Overall home electronics sales at Pioneer climbed nearly 12 percent in the company's fiscal third quarter, reaching $984.7 million, up from $879.3 million in the same quarter the previous year.

Although sales of DVD recorders and players declined in the company's consumer electronics segment, plasma-display sales rose by about 30 percent, mainly due to higher sales in North America and Europe, with stronger demand primarily for high-resolution models. In addition, Pioneer enjoyed higher sales of newly developed DVD drive units for camcorders.

The company's home electronics business improved its operating loss for the third quarter, ended Dec. 31, coming in at a negative $14.8 million, compared with a loss of $24 million in the same quarter in 2004. This mainly reflected the discontinuation of sales of cable TV set-top boxes in North America, due to deteriorating profitability.

In Pioneer's car electronics business, third-quarter sales jumped 21.7 percent, hitting $722.2 million, compared with a year-on-year $593.5 billion. The company posted higher car-audio product sales in both its consumer and OEM markets, with consumer sales expanding in North America.

Car electronics segment operating income soared 57.5 percent in the third quarter, reaching $40.8 million, up from a year-ago $25.9 million.

For the nine months, home electronics sales rose just over 10 percent to $2.2 billion from a year-earlier $2 billion. However, the company's operating loss for the period increased to $232.5 million, compared with a loss of $60.6 million in the same period in 2004.

The car electronics business for the nine months rose 9.5 percent, reaching $2.1 billion, up from $1.9 billion in the same period a year ago. Operating income slipped just over 7 percent to $110.8 million, from $119.4 million the previous year.