Zound delivered second consecutive year of record-breaking performance
Zound Industries has achieved new highs with a second year in a row of record revenues. Net sales rose 44 percent to SEK 3,102 million with Zound breaking the 3 billion SEK barrier and hitting double-digit profitability with an operating margin of 10.3 percent, equivalent to an operating profit of SEK 319 million. With strong growth across all product categories, channels, markets, and showing profitability in all four quarters, 2022 was Zound’s best year to date.
Zound is the powerhouse behind the Marshall, adidas and Urbanears speakers and headphones brands. The company is on a mission to become the most exciting alternative and number one challenger to the traditional players in the industry and has defined a bold ambition and clear strategy for its next phase of growth, with product and digital at its heart.
“The Zound team did it again, satisfying our audiences with outstanding products and meaningful experiences throughout the year while future-proofing our business with an exciting product roadmap for the years to come. We delivered another year of strategic, sustainable, and profitable growth with over 3 billion SEK in revenue and double-digit profitability,” says Jeremy de Maillard, Zound Industries CEO.
E-commerce sales for the full year surged 52 percent, outpacing total revenue growth in line with Zound’s digital first mindset. From a geographic standpoint, Zound showed growth on a global level for the year with EMEA up 25 percent, APAC up 73 percent and the Americas up 46 percent.
Zound launched several new products during 2022, all of which epitomized the company’s unique positioning by representing who people are as individuals and what they care about as a community.
Marshall’s highlights included the third generation of its Homeline speakers with a wider soundstage and built-to-last design, the Willen portable speaker to take Marshall’s iconic looks and signature sound everywhere with you, and the Emberton II, Marshall’s best-selling speaker, upgraded with 30+ hours of listening time, IP67 dust and water-resistance rating, and Stack Mode to connect multiple Emberton II together. Marshall also partnered with renowned creative director Angelo Baque from Awake NY to support the Queens Teens Institute for Arts & Social Justice by hosting a Leadership Art Workshop. There he shared his personal story, insights into building a brand and how, in the center of it all, music influences his creative process.
Urbanears launched “Boo”, the brand’s first true wireless headphones made from up to 97% recycled plastic, signifying the brand’s first steps toward being fully circular and climate neutral by 2030. Urbanears also opened a new creative studio space for DJs, creatives, media, and other partners to share the ultimate Urbanears experience.
adidas released the RPT-02 SOL headphones powered by all forms of natural and artificial light and made from recycled plastic and nylon. The brand also hosted a shakeout run ahead of the New York Marathon and won an Epica Award – a global competition that celebrates creativity and communication – for its “Running Billboard” campaign promoting the runner designed FWD-02 true wireless headphones.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, net sales increased 13 percent to SEK 1.078 billion and operating profit was up on the same period the previous year to SEK 127 million, equivalent to an operating margin of 11.7 percent. Zound ended the year with a net-cash position of SEK 555 million.
“We finished 2022 strongly, and we’re focused on carrying that momentum into 2023 and beyond. Showing profits every quarter in 2022, we've continued to strengthen our financial position. The improvements we’ve made in our business over the last couple of years has created a new baseline of financial performance for Zound and allow us to keep on investing for growth despite a challenging macro-economic situation,” says Martin Axhamre, Zound CFO and Deputy CEO.
The Zound Industries 2022 annual report will be published later this spring.
For more information, please contact:
Lina Wall Borgenbring, Group PR Manager, Zound Industries
press@zoundindustries.com | +46 702 45 31 70
About Zound Industries
Zound is the powerhouse behind the Marshall, adidas and Urbanears brands. For over a decade, we have been shaking things up on the audio electronics market. We redefined headphones from an electronics product to a fashion accessory, sprinkled colour across the audio world and set a new standard for portable and home speakers. We’ve shaped fresh narratives for brands from other categories. We shrunk stereo sound into a single speaker. We put people first and we dare to challenge the status quo in everything we do.
We can do this because we design and develop all our products in house. From concept to consumer, our team of magicians comes together to create unique products and experiences that represent who our consumers are as individuals and what they care about as a community.
