SCOTTISH family business Linn Products, which makes high-end music systems, dipped to a pre-tax loss of £636,000 in the year to June, from a profit of £872,000 in the prior 12 months, amid heavy investment in future products.
Managing director Gilad Tiefenbrun highlighted continued “challenging” trading conditions amid consumer uncertainty, particularly in European markets.
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Turnover dipped by 3.8 per cent to £15.7 million, a figure which Linn Products described as “healthy”. Sales in the UK and Republic of Ireland were broadly flat at £4.18m. Turnover achieved in the rest of Europe dipped from £6.63m to £6.52m and sales in the US fell from £2.29m to £1.99m. Sales to the rest of the world declined from £3.24m to £3.02m.
Linn Products, which was established in 1973 and is based at Eaglesham in East Renfrewshire, said it had invested £2.374m into research and development in the year to June, up by £325,000 on the prior 12 months.
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The firm said this investment had facilitated the development of new concepts, software and products, including the Series 3 wireless speaker and a new Linn app. The speaker and app have been launched this autumn.
Linn Products said the year to June had also, in addition to upgrades to existing products, seen the roll-out and global launch of Selekt DSM, a digital streamer that the firm noted could be “customised and upgraded to suit the owners’ needs and lifestyle”.
Mr Tiefenbrun said: “By continuing to invest in research and development, we are building...skills, capability and products.
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“The global roll-out of Selekt DSM, with its…configurability, has been very well received. Series 3 is the culmination of nearly 50 years of audio innovation and Scottish precision engineering.”
He believes the Series 3 “will change expectations of what wireless speakers are capable of”.
Linn, which had an average monthly workforce of 171 in the year to June, has invested recently in a new flagship concession at Harrods in London.
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