KOSDAQ-listed Sena Technologies on the 17th announced its preliminary first-quarter results. On a consolidation basis, Sena Technologies posted first-quarter revenue of about 43.8 billion won and operating profit of about 3.8 billion won.
Sales in the motorcycle segment, Sena Technologies' flagship products, temporarily slowed early this year. External geopolitical risks, including abnormal weather in Europe and North America and the war in the Middle East, had a major impact. However, since March, the company has rebounded with seasonal demand recovering, offsetting the early-year slowdown.
Total sales fell slightly from a year earlier, but profitability improved, the company said. As the strategy to diversify online sales channels, including Amazon, delivered results, the gross margin rose 1.1 percentage points year over year to 47.4%. The company said it believes cost reductions and innovations in distribution structure led to structural improvements.
Sales of industrial-site product lines jumped 79.3% from a year earlier, and sales of outdoor product lines such as cycling increased 48.2%.
Operating profit was somewhat adjusted as selling and administrative expenses increased 19.3% from a year earlier. Sena Technologies said the main reasons were higher fixed costs such as labor expenses following aggressive global marketing execution and the addition of 109 employees from a year earlier and six from the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, to enhance shareholder value, Sena Technologies has completed about 45% of its 5 billion won share repurchase that began early this month. After the trust agreement expires, the company plans to cancel all of the repurchased shares and said it will do its best to maximize shareholder returns.
A Sena Technologies official said, "Even amid global external headwinds in the first quarter, this was a period that clearly proved Sena's unrivaled technology scalability and solid revenue structure," adding, "Based on the secured profit strength, we will rapidly implant our mesh technology across all industrial sectors."