Press Release- Sennheiser Completes Fiscal Year 2014 with Record Sales

Sennheiser Completes Fiscal Year 2014 with Record Sales

Wedemark, Germany, The Sennheiser Group presented its annual results for fiscal year 2014 on July 8th of 2015: compared to the previous year, total sales at the audio specialist rose by 44.3 million euros to 634.8 million euros, representing an increase of around 7.5 percent. Net earnings also increased by 20.4 million euros to a total of 34.7 million euros. The company, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2015, grew in all regions worldwide – and Sennheiser significantly increased its sales in Asia and Australia in particular.

With this further increase in sales revenue in fiscal year 2014, the Sennheiser Group is sustaining the continuous rise in sales seen in recent years.

"We are very pleased to see a new record result," said Dr. Frank Heinricht, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG. "The positive sales development in all regions has once again confirmed the strategic orientation of the company." The CEOs of Sennheiser GmbH & Co. KG were also delighted by the figures: "This excellent result is the consequence of our long-term strategy which we aim to continue in the future," said Dr. Andreas Sennheiser. "We would like to thank all our employees for their commitment. It is them who have made this success possible," Daniel Sennheiser added.

Worldwide growth – strong APAC region

Sales at the Sennheiser Group increased in all regions worldwide. More than half of the company's total sales in fiscal year 2014 were generated in the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East and Africa), which recorded stable growth of 2.1 percent. Business in the Americas region (North, Central and South America) also saw a positive development – in this region, sales increased by 4.0 percent. Having grown by 30.9 percent, the APAC region (Asia and Australia) made a significant contribution towards increasing overall sales. In addition to the newly formed sales subsidiary for Australia and New Zealand, the region benefited to a large extent from the Digital Dividend in Japan, where public funds were made available to convert wireless microphone systems to enable them to use new frequency ranges.    

Overall, the company generated around 85 percent of its total sales revenue outside the German market. The Sennheiser Group currently has 21 subsidiaries, of which 18 are sales subsidiaries, in more than 50 countries worldwide. Further expansion of its global business activity will continue to be one of the audio specialist's strategic objectives in the future.

Business divisions with balanced shares of sales

The Consumer and Professional Systems Divisions are almost equal in their proportion of total sales. The Consumer Division had sales totalling 322.0 million euros, while the Professional Systems Division was only slightly below, at 312.8 million euros. Compared to the previous year, both divisions enjoyed a further significant rise in sales, increasing by 7.1 percent and 7.9 percent respectively.

Sustainable investment in research and development

Compared to the previous year, investment in research and development in 2014 rose by 6.4 percent to 44.3 million euros. This equals 6.8 percent of the total sales revenue of the Sennheiser Group. Increased investment in this sector was also reflected in the number of employees. Compared to 323 employees worldwide in 2013, the number of people employed in this sector rose by 4.6 percent to 338 in fiscal year 2014. This means that around 13 percent of the total workforce is employed in research and development. "For us, this is a clear sign of our commitment to further strengthening innovative capacity at Sennheiser," said Dr. Andreas Sennheiser. "As a family business, we have the advantage of being able to pursue a long-term and sustainable strategy."

One focus of the current research activities at Sennheiser is on the further development of "3D Immersive Audio" technology, which provides a unique spatial sound experience. As part of these activities, several classical recordings and sound installations were carried out during the year, in addition to other projects.    

Product developments reflected the latest trends in the audio sector and were oriented essentially towards the customers' needs. In particular, Sennheiser's new product worlds are characterized by wireless technologies, multiconnectivity, system integration and intelligent audio connections as well as high-definition audio and individual audio solutions.       

A strong position for future innovations

In order to further promote the spirit of innovation and cooperation between teams throughout the company, Sennheiser is increasingly focusing on the further development of internal working structures and processes. One flagship project is the recently inaugurated Innovation Campus at the company's headquarters in Wedemark: with 7,000 square metres of usable space, it is the largest and most modern innovation center in the audio industry. Since March 2015, it has been providing interdisciplinary teams with space for joint research on pioneering audio solutions. "Our new Innovation Campus enables us to set new standards in the audio industry," explained Daniel Sennheiser. "In this environment we develop audio solutions that are optimally tailored to meet the individual wishes of our customers."

With the new formation of Sennheiser Streaming Technologies GmbH (SST), the Sennheiser Group is also expanding its core business with the addition of a Competence Centre for the development of innovative streaming solutions.

Further investment in human resources and family-friendliness

At the end of 2014, the Sennheiser Group had around 2,700 employees – the average figure for the year was 2,600. Approximately 51 percent of the workforce is employed at the companies located in Germany, while 41 percent is employed at the companies abroad.

Sennheiser continued to invest in a family-friendly working environment for its employees in 2014. In August, the audio specialist opened the company's own child day-care center (called "Ohrwürmchen") at its headquarters in Wedemark. The day-care center provides a total of 30 spots for children from the ages of six months to three years, available to both employees and families outside the company. "We consider it our responsibility to support our employees in improving the compatibility of work and family life," said Dr. Andreas Sennheiser. "This not only contributes to a better working atmosphere but also improves our performance."

Outlook for 2015

Overall, the Sennheiser Group expects fiscal year 2015 to show a further increase in sales revenue and an ongoing positive development in net earnings compared to the previous year. "We began 2015 very successfully and have already been able to present the first product highlights to our customers," said Daniel Sennheiser. These include, among others, the new generation of the successful MOMENTUM range and an extension of the URBANITE product family as well as the evolution wireless D1 digital microphone series for the live music sector, SpeechLine DW for speech applications and AVX for crystal-clear video sound recordings. "It remains our mission to market pioneering products in technological perfection which are optimally tailored to the needs of our customers," explained Daniel Sennheiser. "Our existing product portfolio and our targeted investment in the innovation of new technologies ensure that Sennheiser is ideally equipped to achieve this objective."

About Sennheiser

Audio specialist Sennheiser is one of the world's leading manufacturers of headphones, microphones and wireless transmission systems. Based in Wedemark near Hanover, Germany, Sennheiser operates its own production facilities in Germany, Ireland and the USA and is active in more than 50 countries. With 18 sales subsidiaries and long-established trading partners, the company supplies innovative products and cutting-edge audio solutions that are optimally tailored to its customers' needs. Sennheiser is a family owned company that was founded in 1945 and which today has 2,700 employees around the world that share a passion for audio technology. Since 2013, Sennheiser has been managed by Daniel Sennheiser and Dr. Andreas Sennheiser, the third generation of the family to run the company. In 2014, the Sennheiser Group had sales totalling €635 million. www.sennheiser.com

Press Release - Prof. Dr. Jörg Sennheiser was presented with the coveted Deutsche Gründerpreis 2015 (German Founders Award)

Berlin, Germany, Prof. Dr. Jörg Sennheiser was presented with the coveted Deutsche Gründerpreis 2015 (German Founders Award) in the Lifetime Achievement category for his many years of service as head of Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG and his commitment to entrepreneurs and start-up enterprises. Since 2002, the joint initiative by the magazine stern, the Sparkassen savings banks, the broadcaster ZDF and the car maker Porsche has presented the award to persons with exemplary achievements in setting up and developing innovative and sustainable business ideas and companies. The award ceremony is held every year at the ZDF studio in Berlin.

The jury of the Deutsche Gründerpreis particularly praised the successful expansion of what was initially a more nationally focused audio specialist into a globally successful company, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year.   Furthermore, the experts were impressed by Jörg Sennheiser's prudent succession planning and long-standing support for start-up enterprises. The Lifetime Achievement award came as "a real surprise", Jörg Sennheiser said. "It is a great honor for me to see that the pursuit of perfect sound, which has accompanied me throughout my entire life, is being recognized with this award." 

The courage to follow new paths

After completing his doctorate at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich, Jörg Sennheiser originally planned to start his career at Siemens. But in 1976, at the age of 32, he decided to join the family company founded by his father Prof. Dr. Fritz Sennheiser, taking on the post of Technical Director – which was also a matter of self-determination for the trained engineer: "At Siemens, the career steps were very clearly specified, and here I had more opportunities," he recalls. In 1982, he took over complete responsibility for Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG from his father.

During his time as CEO of Sennheiser, Jörg Sennheiser modernized the structures of the company and introduced, among other things, job descriptions and strategic planning for the entire company. Furthermore, he professionalized the company's financial accounting in order to prepare Sennheiser for its entry into the global market. One of his most far-reaching and at the same time most successful decisions was the carefully planned establishment of the company's own sales subsidiaries, starting with the opening of Sennheiser France – the first of now 18 sales subsidiaries worldwide. "As a result, we are closer to our customers and less susceptible to crises," he explained.

Like his father before him, Jörg Sennheiser also further advanced the technical development of microphones and headphones, fully in keeping with the company's philosophy of the pursuit of perfect sound. "One must never look back," he said, "but must always initiate the next revolution at the right time." He regularly spent time with musicians in order to understand the wishes and needs of the customers even better. As a result, his leadership resulted in numerous award-winning new developments that offer a level of sound quality that even today never fails to astonish the audio world.

With an eye on the future

Jörg Sennheiser took his usual systematic approach when it came to succession planning. In 1996, he withdrew from operative business and, at the age of 51, became the "very active" chairman of the supervisory board. He never put pressure on his two sons Daniel and Andreas to join the company: Daniel first pursued a career in marketing, while the younger son Andreas started his career as an electrical engineer. In the end, however, both of them decided to continue the family tradition. Today, as the third generation, Daniel and Dr. Andreas Sennheiser are successfully heading Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG with its approximately 2,700 employees worldwide.

Jörg Sennheiser, now 70 years old, remained as chairman of the supervisory board until December 2014, in the company that he had so decisively influenced for almost 40 years. Even today, he is still an active member of the supervisory board. He continues to give lectures and represent the family company on important occasions and, for many years, he has been advising young acoustics specialists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich on business start-ups. In addition, he supports projects relating to all aspects of sound, such as the Pop Institute at Hannover University of Music, Drama and Media, the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts or the modernisation of Germany's largest concert hall, the Kuppelsaal in Hannover.

The Deutsche Gründerpreis: Promoting a Spirit of Enterprise

The Deutsche Gründerpreis (German Founders Award) is Germany's most prestigious award for outstanding entrepreneurs and has been presented annually since 2002 in the categories Student, Start-Up, Climbers and Lifetime Achievement. The aim of the award, which is presented jointly by the magazine stern, the Sparkassen savings banks, the broadcaster ZDF and the car maker Porsche, is to promote a positive entrepreneurial climate in Germany. The nominees and award winners are supported by a board of trustees which was established in 2006 and is made up of high-ranking business representatives and also includes former award-winners. With this Lifetime Achievement award, Prof. Dr. Jörg Sennheiser stands alongside other renowned German entrepreneurs and visionaries, such as Heinrich Deichmann, Günther Fielmann, the founder of dm Götz W. Werner and the former chairman of Bertelsmann AG Reinhard Mohn.

About Sennheiser

The Sennheiser Group based in Wedemark near Hanover, Germany, was founded in 1945 and has gone on to become a leading manufacturer of microphones, headphones and wireless transmission systems. Sales in 2013 totaled 590.4 million euros. Sennheiser employs more than 2,700 staff worldwide and operates plants in Germany, Ireland and the USA. The company has a worldwide network of subsidiaries in France, Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, Germany, Denmark (Nordic), Russia, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Japan, China, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, and the USA. It also has long-established trading partners in other countries. Georg Neumann GmbH, Berlin, a maker of studio microphones and monitor speakers, and Sennheiser Communications A/S, a joint venture making headsets for PCs, offices and call centers, are also part of the Sennheiser Group.

More information about Sennheiser is available at www.sennheiser.com.

Press Release - DPA Microphones Goes on the Road with Bombay Bicycle Club

Press Release : Earlier in December 2014, indie rock luminaries Bombay Bicycle Club became the very last band to play London’s legendary Earl’s Court venue, which is soon to be demolished. The band took to the stage as part of an epic world tour, which not only highlighted the success of their So Long, See You Tomorrow album but also allowed them to use DPA Microphones extensively on the road for the first time.

If delivering the last-ever gig at Earl’s Court wasn’t enough of an honor, Bombay Bicycle Club also happily accepted a special guest when Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour joined them on stage. Gilmour first played steel lap guitar on the band’s song “Rinse Me Down,” before giving an emotional rendition of “Wish You Were Here,” backed by Bombay Bicycle Club. As with all of the performances that night – and during the entire tour – DPA microphones were on-hand to ensure exceptional audio quality.

“Jon Burton, the previous front-of-house engineer, brought the DPA d:facto™ Vocal Microphone to our attention while he was reviewing equipment for one of the pro audio magazines,” says Tour Manager Steven Down, who has been working with the band for five years. “Jack Steadman (lead vocals) was the first to try it during the warm up tour we did at the start of this campaign, and he was very impressed with the clarity compared to the dynamic mics we had been using previously. Shortly after, we obtained a capsule to use on our existing wireless system for Liz Lawrence, who does a lot of backing vocals in the show. More recently, we started using d:dicate™ 2011C Twin Diaphragm Cardioid units on the kick and snare and some d:vote™ 4099 Instrument Microphones on the toms, all with great results.”

Downs adds that the Bombay Bicycle Club show moves from songs with loud distorted guitars and heavy drums to quiet and intimate piano and vocal solos. “I think the dynamic range and the frequency response of the d:facto really allows Jack to perform with confidence in all situations,” he says.

Steadman himself is certainly a fan of the d:facto Vocal Microphone. “The wonderfully clear, bright sound of the mic means I don’t have to mess around endlessly with EQ to get the results I want,” he says.

Also happily not messing around with EQ too much is Simon Lutkin, freelance sound engineer and production manager who first took over monitors for the band during their Different Kind of Fix tour in 2012. “We have drums, bass, guitars, keys, percussion, backing vocals and a brass section onstage during the show — it can get pretty busy,” he says of the current set-up. “Currently, the show is around 40 channels, but both Tom [Wiggans,FoH] and myself try to keep the channel count down as much as we can. A lot of the shows we do are festivals and rolling in with too much can be a problem for broadcast and patch.”

Everyone has in-ear mics, but Lutkin also uses wedges on the downstage edge and side-fills to add feeling. Add to that up to nine people at any one set, and the stage can get pretty full.

“With that many lines on stage, any help I can get through technology is great,” Lutkin says. “I use scenes for each song to make small changes automatically through the show so I can keep my eye on the band. The d:facto Vocal Microphone really helps control the ambience for the main singers. Compared to other mics, as well as having a pretty tight pickup pattern, the overall tone of the spill is much nicer to listen to. You are always up against bleed from other sources in a live scenario, but with this set of mics the spill is much more pleasant-sounding and therefore can be a help rather than a hindrance.”

All of the band’s DPA mics were supplied by Sound Network, the company’s U.K. distributor. Alongside the d:facto, the tour configuration sees Lutkin use DPA’s d:dicate 2011C mics on both kick and snare because they are small enough to be deployed exactly where he wants them and light enough to stay in place without putting any pressure on the stand or clamp. d:vote 4099 Instrument Microphones are also in use for rack, floor, crash, ride and the brass section.

To maintain consistency, the group carries all the mics and IEMs with them internationally, simply hiring in consoles locally (a DiGico SD7 for FOH and Midas Pro2c for monitors), thus ensuring that the signal path from source to output is the same each day.

“In a live scenario, you can’t always place mics exactly where you want for a variety of reasons, so having a set of mics that work well wherever you put them is a real positive,” concludes Lutkin. “All the DPA mics we use on Bombay, like all the ones I have used in the past, never fail to impress day-after-day. Since populating the stage with DPA microphones, it has really made a difference to the quality of the overall sound of the show.”

Press Release - DPA Microphones Helps Cats On Trees

Press Release : Live sound engineer Verlaine Levis used to think that DPA microphones were only suited to classical music and never imagined that their microphones were also great for pop rock tours. Since using a selection of DPA mics on the current Cats On Trees tour, Levis is the first to admit that his initial perception was entirely wrong.

“When DPA’s French distributor Audio² gave me the opportunity to try the company’s microphones with Cats On Trees, I was happy to accept the challenge,” Levis says. “It didn’t take long to discover that these great microphones have beefy pickups and are perfectly suited to rock and pop acts. We’re now using three d:facto™ Vocal Microphones, as well as a d:dicate™ ST2011C Stereo Pair with 2011C Compact Cardioids and a number of d:vote™ 4099 Instrument Microphones for drums and violins.”

Levis, who began his career with French sound company Audio-Lum, started working as a live sound engineer in 2001 and has toured with the likes of Sidilarsen, Claude Sicre, Bombs 2 Bal, Zebda, Magyd Cherfi and Mouss and Hakim. He is also building a strong reputation as a recording engineer, having been asked by a number of artists to assist with studio sessions.

Cats On Trees, a French duo consisting of Nina Goern and Yohan Hennequin, specialize in ambient indie pop and have released one self-titled album along with several singles, including “Sirens Call,” which reached No. 3 in the French charts in 2013. The band is now halfway through a European tour that will see them play nearly 200 dates in various countries, including France, Germany, England and Spain.

“The tour is awesome and they are playing to virtually full houses every time,” Levis says. “Since September, they have been performing with a string quartet, but because we have such a busy touring schedule, there hasn’t been much time for residency work or to prepare the mix. Therefore, the show is being built as we go along.”

Levis runs the front-of-house sound, the mix for the in-ear monitors and the shipment of sequences since he mixes upstream. “With the help of our lighting person, we have set up a network between sound, light and stage,” he explains. “He controls the lights and video via a MIDI controller, but I am the master of the Mac, which manages the sequences and the network. Feeling comfortable is of ultimate importance to the artist, so I try hard to achieve that. With this duo, it is very difficult to create a show that is the same every time because they are constantly changing things.”

The progressive evolution of the show was a key reason Levis decided to switch to DPA microphones. He had previously used DPA’s omnidirectional microphones to record voice ensembles and orchestras in churches, so he knew that the mics could faithfully recreate the acoustics of a venue. After speaking to Audio², he tried out various mic combinations until he found ones that worked for him.

“I had a very clear idea of how each instrument should sound,” he explains. “I wanted to bring several omnidirectional microphones on tour so that I could capture the natural color of the instruments, but because of the on-stage proximity of the drums and piano, this was not possible. As it stands, only the ambient microphones are omnidirectional.”

Levis eventually opted for DPA d:vote 4099 Instrument Microphones for the drum kit and was immediately impressed by the sound, which he feels is ‘very powerful and very natural.’ “These microphones really pick up extreme levels - they are great,” he says. “We now have DPA d:vote 4099s on the bass drum, snare, toms and violin. I even had them under the cymbals this summer. I am most impressed with the way they capture the sound of the bass drum. I position the mic at the entrance of the drum and slightly inside it. Although the capsule is very small, it still delivers the most amazingly deep, accurate bass.”

Levis is also using DPA d:facto Vocal Microphones, which have solved the feedback issues he was having with other mics. The band has three on stage – one for Yohan on drums and two for Nina as she sings in two different locations.

“For Yohan, the issue was his drum kit,” Levis says. “I was afraid his vocal mic would pick up a lot of extraneous sounds, but what I achieved with d:facto was a clarity to his voice that no other mic would have given me. I just had to think carefully about the positioning of his microphone to avoid rear rejection. Furthermore, the d:facto has a very high gain and its gain before feedback is incomparable.”

“As for Nina, well, to be honest, it was she who chose d:facto – not me,” he continues. “We’d tried a number of different mics, but it was d:facto that she really liked. I never impose a microphone on a singer and I even made her do a blind test because I wanted to be sure she was 100 percent comfortable with the way her voice sounded. She immediately noticed the difference and now doesn’t want to sing with any other microphone.”

The fact that DPA microphones deliver a very precise sound has given Levis’ mixes more accuracy and finesse. The mics have also made everyone more demanding when it comes to sound quality, especially when it comes to tuning drum kits.

“For me, the DPA microphones can be summarized in two words: natural and punchy,” Levis concludes. “What’s more, they are very rugged. I've broken three microphones so far on this tour, but not a single one of them has been a DPA.”