In fiscal 2011-12, Datacolor continued to strengthen its position as one of the world’s leading suppliers of innovative color management solutions. The company also significantly expanded its presence in key markets such as automotive and plastics, as well as with manufacturers of paint and dyes by launching numerous new innovative products and expanding the sales and service organization. During the year, Datacolor’s net sales increased by three per cent to $55.9 million (FY 2010/11: $55.5 million).
The group invested strongly in the direct sales and service organization in growth markets such as China and India. At the same time, the US distribution channel for the imaging business was streamlined. In German-speaking countries the service and support functions were insourced.
Datacolor intensified cooperation with local distribution partners in important emerging markets such as Turkey and Brazil. Datacolor stepped up its customer orientated marketing activities, especially in the Imaging business where the Group accelerated the efficient market introduction of new products in the year under review. The increased spending in marketing and the distribution process optimization has already showed a positive impact.
Datacolor optimized organizational processes in the research and development department and could thus maintain its high innovation pipeline at a lower cost. The targeted marketing investments as well as optimized processes in sales and research and development has strengthened the company’s international sales and profitability potential.
With an optimized sales organization, customer-focused marketing, a strengthened management and an innovative research and development department, Datacolor is well positioned for the challenges ahead. The company has a strong pipeline of innovative products to be launched in the new fiscal year. Given a reasonably stable economic environment, Datacolor’s Board of Directors and the Executive Committee expect to continually increase primarily sales revenues but also its profitability due to its strong market position and efficient global sales and service organization.
Growth markets gain further
During the period under review, the share of sales generated by the Asia Pacific region increased to 31.3 per cent (30.4 per cent). Above all, in China, Datacolor recorded encouraging growth due to the significant expansion of direct sales organization in the reporting period. The North and South American markets also lifted their share of sales from 28.2 per cent to 30.2 per cent. Under the impact of the euro crisis, Europe’s share of group sales decreased slightly, but the region remains Datacolor’s largest market, accounting for 38.5 per cent (41.4 per cent).
Strategic investments
Datacolor is one of the world’s leading suppliers of software and hardware systems for color management and measurement. The group is the global market leader in the textile industry and in the color calibration of displays and printers. In the year under review, Datacolor further expanded its strong market position in key markets such as the automotive and plastics industries as well as manufacturers of paints and dyes.
In the growth markets of China and India, the sales and service organization was substantially strengthened by more than doubling personnel from 20 to 45 employees. Datacolor intensified cooperation with local distribution partners in important emerging markets such as Turkey and Brazil.
Datacolor continued to invest substantially in research and development to keep up a high pace of innovation and to increase the number of new product launches. The group has a well-filled product pipeline with innovative instruments and software solutions for the measurement and communication of color. As a result of the optimized processes in the research and development department, the share of net sales decreased slightly to 10% (FY 2010/11: 12%), while the high innovation rate was maintained.
During the year under review, Datacolor launched a significant number of new, innovative solutions such as the ‘45G’ portable spectro photometer with integrated gloss measurement. The solution excels in color appearance evaluation of painted surfaces, plastic parts, package prints, automotive parts, and furniture. Measurements made with the ‘45G’ capture the effect of base color, gloss and surface texture on overall visual appearance. ‘AhibaQuickDose’ complements the innovative series of lab instruments for the textile industry. The patented solution allows an efficient and more precise chemical dosing in the dyeing process, accelerating the lab-to-production reproducibility.
Datacolor also introduced ‘Match Pigment 2.2’, which is designed for the plastics sector as well as the paint and coatings industry. The innovative ‘Smart Match’ technology significantly improves the prediction accuracy for color recipes and, thanks to its patented method, simplifies pigmented wood stain matching.
Datacolor aims to continuously raise sales by launching new products and increasing market penetration. The group has a successful range of products and services, a well-filled development pipeline and a powerful, customer-orientated sales organization which will actively enter the market to ensure the systematic realization of the long-term growth potential.
Given a continued reasonable economic trend, Datacolor is well positioned to achieve its ambitious medium-term objectives for growth and profitability through organic growth and targeted acquisitions.