Continued strong growth for Care Electronics, 33 per cent of Doro for first half year

Doro’s business unit Care Electronics continued its strong growth during the second quarter and increased sales by almost 300 per cent. In the second quarter Care Electronics represented about 40 per cent of Doro’s total sales. For the first half year Care Electronic’s sales amounted to SEK 46.7 million (SEK 15.1 m) representing about 33 per cent of total sales. The strong increase is mainly driven by the success of easy-to-use mobile phones for senior citizens. During the second quarter the new mobile phones HandleEasy 328gsm and HandleEasy 330gsm were successfully launched across Europe.

“Thanks to increased order intake in the second quarter compared to the first quarter, we expect the second half of 2008 to be better than previous year. This will mainly be in Care Electronics on the back of marketing efforts and the launch of new products for senior citizens”, says Jérôme Arnaud, CEO of Doro.

Doro had sales of SEK 68.1 million (SEK 72.5 m) during the second quarter and SEK 139.5 million (SEK 151.2 m) during the first half year. The lower sales follows forecasted sales trends in the business units Home and Business Electronics.

The operating loss before tax and financial items for the second quarter was SEK 4.3 million (SEK -0.2 m) and for the half year SEK 3.7 million (SEK +1.1 m). The loss was mainly due to lower sales combined with higher marketing and sales costs for introducing new products in Care Electronics.

“During the second half of 2008 we will continue to build our Care Electronics business. In Home Electronics we will focus on the launch of new products to offset market decline. In Business Electronics we anticipate improved sales of our new range of VoIP products having strengthened our sales force”, concludes Jérôme Arnaud.

The Interim report is available at www.doro.com