Strong Harmony Remote Sales Reported Again by Logitech for Q2

Harmony remotes were again Logitech’s “fastest-growing retail product category” in Q2 ended Sept. 30, revenue growing 28 percent from a year earlier, CEO Gerald Quindlen said Thursday on an earnings call. Harmony remote unit sales in the category grew even more than revenue, 71 percent, Logitech said.

Sales growth of remotes “was driven by multiple products, with the Harmony One leading the way,” said Chief Financial Officer Erik Bardman. The unit growth in remotes was driven by strong demand for Logitech’s two newer products, the Harmony 300, its lowest priced remote at $49, and the $99 Harmony 650, he said.

Logitech’s profit grew to $41 million, 23 cents per share, from $21 million, 11 cents, a year earlier. Total revenue increased 17 percent to $582 million. Retail sales of all products grew 11 percent, with an increase in Asia of 38 percent and growth in the Americas of 19 percent, but a decline in the Europe Middle East Africa (EMEA) region of 3 percent. OEM sales grew 10 percent. Products priced higher than $100 accounted for 17 percent of Q2 retail sales, up from 15 percent in Q2 last year, Bardman said. But he said the overall average retail selling price of products fell 6 percent year to year.

The weakest category was again game peripherals, whose revenue fell 29 percent and unit sales tumbled 35 percent. PC game peripheral revenue fell 31 percent and units were down 26 percent. Console game peripheral revenue fell 20 percent and units tumbled 54 percent.

Audio peripheral revenue dipped 1 percent and unit sales fell 4 percent. The decline “was mostly driven by the speaker category, where sales fell by 7 percent primarily due to weakness in EMEA,” Bardman said. But he said the company saw “strong growth in PC headsets, as well as in our Squeezebox family of streaming media products."

Faring much better were video and keyboard/desktop peripherals. Video revenue grew 18 percent and unit sales jumped 28 percent. Total keyboard/desktop revenue increased 19 percent, with units up 29 percent. Total pointing device revenue grew 18 percent, and units were up 26 percent. Revenue from cordless mouse devices grew 36 percent and units soared 61 percent, Logitech said, but revenue from corded counterparts fell 7 percent. Unit sales of corded mouse devices inched up 3 percent.

Logitech raised its sales forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, from $2.3 billion-$2.35 billion to $2.35 billion-$2.4 billion, to factor in its initial estimate of sales for the new Google TV product line, Quindlen said. Logitech was “very encouraged both by early indicators of enthusiasm” from consumers for its Logitech Revue with Google TV and related peripherals and “the opportunity for developing another long-term growth driver for our business,” he said. Logitech shipped its initial Google TV offerings last week in the U.S., he said. Amazon and Best Buy are selling the products, also available direct from Logitech and through the Dish Network, he said. “As we move into the March quarter, we plan to significantly expand our retail distribution to include more of our channel partners in the U.S.,” he said. Logitech expects Google TV to become available in Europe in 20011, he said.