Bang & Olufsen profits sink 47%, to shut 125 shops

Danish high-end hi-fi maker Bang & Olufsen reported on Wednesday a 47-percent plunge in its second-quarter net profit and announced the closure of 125 stores. Between September and November, the company earned a net profit of 15.4 million Danish kroner (2.06 million euros), sharply down from the 28.8 million kroner reported in the same three months a year ago. The company follows a non-fiscal calendar year. The Danish manufacturer also said it intended to close about 125 of its 637 stores within the next 18 months, mainly in Europe owing to under-performance. The company called the decisions a "conscious strategy decision to improve the quality and sustainability of the retail network and the overall customer experience." Thanks to the company's recent launch of new products, such as the BeoVision 11 television, quarterly sales jumped by 5.0 percent year-on-year, rising to 819 million kroner. B&O also said it will pursue expansion plans in Brazil, Russia, India and China. B&O was founded in 1925. It has built up a reputation for the quality of the design and technology of its products. Its leading products include television sets, hi-fi systems as well as sound-systems for luxury cars. The price of shares in the group fell by 13.29 percent on the Copenhagen stock exchange which was showing an overall fall of 0.22 percent.