ANNUAL REPORT 2008/09 - Sonova

Sales in CHF m
EBITA
EBITA in CHF m
margin in %
1,200
30.0
1,100
27.5
1,000
25.0
900
22.5
800
20.0
700
17.5
600
15.0
500
12.5
400
10.0
300
7.5
200
5.0
100
2.5
0
0
2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08* 2008/09
High level of profi tability
During the reporting period Sonova was able to increase its
gross profi t from CHF 841.6 million to CHF 867.2 mil lion
despite the challenging market conditions. The gross profi t
margin of 69.4% lowered somewhat from last year’s
fi gure of 69.9%.
During the fi nancial year 2008/09 Sonova achieved an
operating profi t (EBITA) of CHF 331.8 million, compared
with CHF 339.8 million in the previous year. The EBITA
margin slipped from 28.2% to 26.6% mainly due to the
negative currency eff ects mentioned above. These adverse
eff ects were partly off set by savings in materials procurement,
economies of scale in production and the early
launch of a cost-saving program across the entire Group.
The pro portion of added value from Asia increased, while
production facilities in Vietnam and China were expanded
further, thus bringing a valuable contribution to an
effi cient cost structure to Sonova’s production network.
During the reporting period spending on sales, marketing
and administration increased to 36.7% of total sales,
compared with 35.2% in the prior year. Sales and marketing
was expanded, mainly through a number of acquisitions
which have strengthened existing sales channels.
Investments were also made in wide-reaching initiatives
such as Hear the World, which is now being used to acquire
new customers. This resulted in total sales and marketing
expenses of CHF 340.3 million compared with
CHF 309.2 million in the previous year. General and administration
expenses came to CHF 117.7 million, equivalent
Earnings per share
Income after taxes
in CHF
margin in %
6.0
30.0
5.5
27.5
5.0
25.0
4.5
22.5
4.0
20.0
3.5
17.5
3.0
15.0
2.5
12.5
2.0
10.0
1.5
7.5
1.0
5.0
0.5
2.5
0
0
2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08* 2008/09
to 9.4% of sales, roughly the same as in the previous
year. The higher costs for sales, marketing and administration
were related to a big extent to the rise of 460 additional
staff in these areas. At the end of the fi nancial year
2008/09 the Group’s headcount was 5,339 – 593 more
than in the previous year.
Hearing industry growth exceeded
The diffi cult economic situation resulted in weaker
growth rates in the hearing instrument market. In the past
fi nancial year, however, the rate of growth achieved
by the Sonova Group exceeded the market as a whole by
more than 5 percentage points. The highest growth was
achieved in the Asia/Pacifi c region, at 18.4% in local
currencies, mainly as a result of increased sales in Japan
and the continuing penetration of the Chinese market.
This region accounted for 9% of Group sales in the fi nancial
year 2008/09. Europe contributed 41% of Group
sales and posted a very solid performance, achieving
growth of 6.9% in local currencies. Key markets such as
Germany, France and Italy continued to benefi t from
robust demand. The Americas region reported growth
of 12.9% in local currencies, with especially strong
growth achieved in the USA, Canada and Brazil. The region
North and South America accounted for 49% of Group
sales in 2008/09.
Last year the growth of the various product groups was
disproportionately infl uenced by strong demand for
business class and economy class hearing systems. Growth
in these market segments came to 24.6% and 18.1%
FINANCIAL YEAR 2008/09
* Excluding one-off
costs for the prohibited
acquisition of the GN
ReSound Group.
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