By Matthew Henry
SYDNEY: It has been revealed that the Doro Australia subsidiary – sold last week to Victorian distributor Westan Australia – made a return to profitability in the first quarter of 2007 following a restructure of the business.
Despite a tough period for the Sydney-based cordless phone supplier with an ongoing restructure, Doro Australia managing director, Matt Segafredo, said a positive result in the first quarter of the year showed Doro was back on track.
“We are very pleased with the results. We have regained traction in the market place due to the combination of our restructure strategy and more importantly, the ongoing support and trust offered by our retailers and customers,” Segafredo told Current.com.au.
Although Doro would not reveal the number of successive quarters the local subsidiary has languished in the red, Segafredo claims the company now looks forward to a secure future with Westan.
“We have an excellent bill of health with historic baggage now a distant memory,” he said.
“With the infrastructure, experience and support benefits provided by Westan – and now the opportunity to offer and leverage off each other’s product and customer bases – the future looks extremely positive.
“Diversification has always been a sticking point which no longer exists, and all of the customers we have met with to date have replied in a very positive manner. Doro and Westan are now in a position to offer their customers a greater range of products, services and solutions.”
According to Segafredo, Doro has been pursuing new channels with its latest product range to chase business in growing markets.
“Without doubt the market has slowed in certain channels in comparison to the same period last year, however we have been proactive in developing markets outside the traditional channels as part of our new business model. These other markets however are not measured by GfK – and from a retail stance, this is the main benchmark used,” he said.
Segafredo admitted a return to profitability had some bearing on Westan’s purchase of the business, but said the opportunities the Doro brand provides were ultimately the compelling factor for its new owners.
Westan will license the Doro brand and products in Australia and become the sole distributor – an arrangement Doro’s former Swedish parent company, Doro AB, is clearly happy with.
“The deal follows our plan of focusing on the European market and creating a pure product company. The sale of the Australian business will cut our risk exposure and meanwhile provides opportunities for product and licence revenue,” said Doro global CEO, Rune Torbjörnsen, in a recent statement.