DATE: JUL 18 2024 / SOURCE: YICAI
(Yicai) July 18 -- Chinese small home appliance manufacturer Bear Electric Appliance has completed the acquisition of a local company making personal care products for Philips and other overseas brands to diversify its operations.
Bear spent CNY154 million (USD21.2 million) to purchase a 62 percent stake in Roman Smart Technology, the Foshan-based buyer announced yesterday. Roman is now a holding unit of Bear.
With the acquisition of Roman, Bear aims to expand its product portfolio to foray into the market for emerging home appliance products that have higher growth potential, such as electric toothbrushes and high-speed electric hair driers, while expanding overseas through Roman’s channels, Bear said in early July when it disclosed the acquisition plan.
Founded in 2010, Roman produces electric appliances for international brands in the oral care and hair care industries. Philips, Panasonic, Ya-Man, and Groupe SEB are among its main overseas clients. About 80 percent of Roman’s revenue comes from manufacturing products from other brands.
In recent years, Roman has been focusing more on developing its brand, but the business scale of its self-owned brand remains small. According to Bear, Roman needs to complete the spin-off of its self-operated brand business to improve operating conditions in the next three months.
Roman reported a net loss of CNY3.7 million (USD509,930) last year, compared with a net profit of CNY17.5 million (USD2.4 million) the previous year, mainly because of the sluggish performance of its self-owned brand business. Revenue inched up 0.5 percent to CNY505 million in the period.
In the first quarter of the year, Bear logged a net profit of CNY151 million, narrowing 8.5 percent from a year earlier because of China’s declining kitchen appliance market. Revenue fell 4.6 percent to CNY1.2 billion (USD165.4 million).