By James Wells

MELBOURNE: Following strong sales of plasma televisions, Pioneer Electronics Australia announced today it is set to post record sales exceeding $250 million, for the year ending March 31, 2006, more than $20 million up on the previous year.

As a result of this growth, Pioneer Electronics Australia has also announced today that it will be restructuring its home entertainment business group on 1 April, 2006, following the end of the upcoming current Japanese financial year.

According to Pioneer Electronics Australia managing director, Ken Barelli, the growing contribution from plasma to the company’s success has encouraged Pioneer to focus its attention, enabling it to concentrate on both the audio and video categories.

“While the home entertainment business group will remain one entity, the audio and video departments will now run separately within that group,” Barelli said.

Despite Pioneer Electronics Australia’s record sales over the last 12 months, Barelli believes the changes are critical in paving the way for future growth.

“The challenge for Pioneer Australia now is to still lead the market and continue this success in the coming years,” he said.

Changes to the Pioneer Electronics Australia business, effective 1 April 2006, include:

– Tony Trent has been promoted from national product manager to audio category manager for the home entertainment business group.

– Max Everingham has been appointed as the new category manager for the video division.

– Steve Johnson has been promoted from key accounts manager to national sales manager for the home entertainment business group.

– Jo Bottero and Jackie Hammond assume the roles of marketing communications manager for video and audio respectively.

Mark Anning remains national marketing manager for the home entertainment group overall.

Pioneer is still finalising positions for a product manager in the video division and key accounts manager in sales.