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 Anders Hedegaard laid out his plans for the company - the hearing
aid business of GN Store Nord - for the first time since taking the
helm on August 1 in a change of management that surprised investors
and analysts.
After four years of cutting costs to boost operating margins, GN
Resound now wants to grow faster than the global market, which grew
about 4 percent last year in terms of sales.
"The restructuring is over and now it's innovation and growth that
are the priorities," said Hedegaard.
The world's fourth-largest hearing aid maker, with a 16 percent
market share, has worked with Apple Inc to develop the Resound Linx
device that allows users to wirelessly transmit content from iPhones
directly into their ear.
GN Resound hopes this will banish the stigma that many people feel
when wearing an aid by linking it to a fashionable brand.
As the world's population ages, and lives longer, the industry has
become fiercely competitive - and the company aims to gain an edge
by appealing to the iPhone generation as it ages.
"We expect Linx to be the biggest driver behind our gaining market
share for the rest of the year," Hedegaard said in a telephone
interview. "The hearing aids industry is driven by products so it is
important to develop devices which have advantages. We are very
conscious about this."
FIRST
Together with Danish peers William Demant and unlisted Widex A/S, GN
Resound supplies half of the world's hearing aids. The world's
biggest manufacturer is Swiss group Sonova, with a market share of
around 24 percent.
The Resound Linx, launched globally earlier this year, is the first
device on the market to wirelessly transmit phone content, but GN
Resound's competitors are working on similar products.
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Parent GN Store Nord gave no reason for the change of chief
executive at its hearing aid unit. The move surprised many analysts,
who praised the work of previous boss Lars Viksmoen and said they
would wait and see how Hedegaard, a former CEO of small biotech
company Bavarian Nordic, performed.
Shares in GN Store Nord are down 5.65 percent since the change was
announced in May, lagging Sonova's 5.4 percent rise and William
Demant's 0.8 percent fall in the same period.
GN Store Nord is expected to increase its second-quarter earnings
before interest, tax and amortization (EBITA) by 11.7 percent
year-on-year, when it reports its results on Aug. 14, a Reuters poll
of analysts showed on Monday.
Analysts from Jyske Bank and Handelsbanken also expect the company
to raise its full-year revenue and EBITA guidance for GN Resound.
William Demant also reports on Aug. 14, but as the company does not
disclose quarterly figures the numbers will be for the first half of
2014. Its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) are expected to be
up by 4.8 percent compared with the same period last year, a Reuters
poll of analysts showed.
(Editing by Sabina Zawadzki and Pravin Char)
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