Bowers & Wilkins cuts dozens of jobs after plunging to $8m loss
Bowers & Wilkins has cut dozens of jobs after plunging to an $8m (£6m) loss despite seeing an upturn in sales, its latest accounts show.
The premium headphone and speaker maker, which counts David Beckham among its brand ambassadors, has reduced its workforce by 14 per cent, with 50 production jobs going amid the introduction of new “robotics” manufacturing processes. It incurred costs of $557k for redundancy payments to management.
The British audio business reported a total turnover of $179m in 2024, a rise of 6.5 per cent compared the previous year, helped along by a 60 per cent jump in sales of headphones.
But sales of its luxury loudspeakers, which retail for up to £55,000, declined by around 4 per cent.
“Taking account of planned product launches over the next 18 months, the growth of e-commerce sales and the positive impacts expected from building brand awareness, website activities, expanded licensing portfolio and synergy benefits, the directors consider the company to be well positioned to compete successfully going forward in an ever more premium audio segment and in the high-quality headphone category,” Bowers and Wilkins said.
The firm added that it “has continued to invest in its manufacturing facilities with the innovative use of processes and robotics in the Zhuhai, China and Worthing, UK”.
Bowers and Wilkins sale to Samsung
The results come as US health technology and consumer electronics firm Masimo gears up to sell its audio division, including Bowers and Wilkins and Japanese firm Denon, to Samsung Subsidiary Harman, which owns Harman Kardon, AKG and JBL.
The $350m deal, which was first unveiled in May, is expected to complete at the end of September, Bowers and Wilkins said.
Katie Szyman, chief executive of Masimo, said: “Since I took over as CEO, a key objective has been refocusing our business to ensure we are allocating time and resources to areas of unmet clinical need and driving growth and operational efficiencies.
“This transaction aligns with these objectives. Our consumer audio business and its talented team will be well positioned for growth and success under Harman’s leadership.”