President Terao, BALMUDA Phone is confident that "I believe the result will be all right"

Balmuda held a financial results briefing for the fiscal year ending December 2021 on February 10. Sales and profits for the full year 2021 were 18.37 billion yen (+ 46%) and operating profit was 1.51 billion yen (+ 15.3%). Sales and net income reached record highs, and President Gen Terao is proud that "the figures for 2021 are what Balmuda should be."

Sales related to mobile terminals amounted to 2.84 billion yen, second only to 3.34 billion yen related to air conditioning and 9.63 billion yen related to kitchens. Although it costs 840 million yen in the mobile phone business, it is making a solid profit even in the mobile phone business alone, partly because it was able to form a tie-up with Softbank, which is the main sales channel.

On the other hand, in the business forecast for the fiscal year ending December 2022, since the commercialization of the successor to the BALMUDA Phone currently under development has not been decided, it is not included in the sales, and the sales related to mobile terminals will decrease by 61.9% from 2021. It stays at 1.08 billion yen. As a result, the operating profit of Balmuda as a whole is expected to decrease by 47.3% to 800 million yen, but the number here will change significantly depending on whether a successor can be released.

Recognizing that the 2022 earnings forecast is "I don't think it's a desirable number," he said he would work with manufacturing partners to reduce costs and procure parts. He also declared that he would continue to focus on "BALMUDA Technologies," which is a product group with a high degree of technology integration, and "continue to increase the value of BALMUDA Phone and accelerate the introduction of new products in this category." bottom.

The response of BALMUDA Phone was "everything was unexpected"

Since President Gen Terao first appeared publicly since the announcement of "BALMUDA Phone" on November 16, 2021, most of the time was devoted to talking about BALMUDA Phone, including questions and answers. ..

First of all, Mr. Terao recalls that the big response after the announcement of BALMUDA Phone was "everything was unexpected." By the time I made a hypothesis, I was in a state of confusion that said, "I couldn't make a hypothesis about the reason why the headwind occurred on the net, and the movement in my head stopped for several weeks." It took months. Currently, he thinks, "I feel that the color of the flag is starting to change. It's getting closer to what we want."

One part of this is the “price reduction” of BALMUDA Phone. From February 11, Softbank will discount BALMUDA Phone from the regular price of 143,280 yen to 71,664 yen (tax included) at Softbank shop directly managed stores. It is unusual to give a large discount three months after the release, but the reason is that sales are sluggish, saying that "the current sales situation is different from what we wanted". I mentioned that.

Mr. Terao sees that the cause of the slump is "the negative views of the initial action on the Internet have a great influence", but there is also data that "the terminal has high customer satisfaction for people who match their lives." I feel that is the easiest mobile phone to use so far, "he said. Softbank said that it had the same view, and that it was a result of considering how to increase the number of users. "I think this is desirable because it is an attempt to have more people use BALMUDA Phone." (Mr. Terao)

BALMUDA Phone was "absolutely good to do"

There are many negative reviews about BALMUDA Phone, but Mr. Terao says, "I don't recognize that it has damaged the brand value of Balmuda." With the release of BALMUDA Phone, the company's recognition has risen significantly in a month or two, and market research says that "in addition to fashion and luxury, the spirit of challenge has also become an evaluation point." In fact, sales of home appliances from November to December seemed to be strong.

From the announcement of BALMUDA Phone to now, Mr. Terao says, "I'm still learning," but "I've learned a lot of lessons in the last few months." "He thinks there were a few different ways to communicate, the amount of explanation, the presentation and the pre-announcement dither," he said. In addition, while only one model of toaster will be sold for 7 years, smartphones will be replaced with new products in a cycle of about 1 year. "I feel the difference in speed here. There are some differences in countries, so I think I have to get used to it quickly," (Mr. Terao).

In response to the question "Is it okay to do BALMUDA Phone?", Mr. Terao immediately answered, "I'm absolutely glad I did it." There is a headwind now, but he is confident that he "still believes that the result will be okay." "I was surprised at the number of evaluations and voices on the Internet at first, but when I think about that phenomenon again, I have a lot of energy. If I can meet the expectations of those people, I can achieve great results. The high potential of the market. I felt "

Regarding the sales channel, he thought, "In the case of mobile terminals, I think it is difficult to sell with Balmuda alone." Sales of the successor to BALMUDA Phone are not yet clear, but if it is to be commercialized, it seems that it will be sold together with the carrier this time as well. Regarding other carriers such as DoCoMo and KDDI, he just said, "No idea at the moment. I expect to be able to talk in a few years."

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