Loewe gets three months to find partner

Focus too
narrow

That step
is necessary because the company has made a loss in the past three years. Last
year that loss even tripled to 29 million euro. There is also no improvement on
the horizon, unless the company quickly undertakes some action.

Loewe
suffered greatly from the pressure on the prices of its devices, but kept
focusing on the higher segment of the market. The competition of Asian players
such as Samsung and Panasonic proved too much though. Furthermore the company
almost exclusively kept focusing on the European market, where the demand is
far lower.

Sales of
the company dropped from 374 million euro in 2008 to 250 million euro in 2012.
In the first quarter of 2013 that downslide continued: compared to the previous
year sales in that period dropped 35 percent to 43.5 million euro.

On the lookout
for downstreaming and synergies

The
management of Loewe wants to use these three months to better its strategy and
to look for a new partner. This should allow the company to benefit from synergies
when it comes to product development, purchasing, production and sales. About a
year ago there was a strong rumour Apple wanted to buy the producer of luxury
televisions, but this did not come into reality.

Loewe also
wants to start bringing a wider range of products onto the market and it wants
to start offering TVs of 800 euro through chains such as Media Markt and
Saturn. It also wants to improve the positioning of the brand and emphasise “my
perfect entertainment” more.

Management
hopes to announce more news about potential investors during the shareholder’s
meeting, which will take place on 31 July in Berlin.

The
protection against creditors is only valid for Loewe AG and subsidiary Loewe
Opta GmbH. Other parts of the company are not part of the decision of the
court. Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank are two of the largest creditors of Loewe.