07.20.23
Rank: #27 (Last year: #28)
CHF 3.73 Billion ($4.08 Billion)
Prior Fiscal: CHF 3.36 Billion
Percentage Change: +11.1%
R&D Expenditure: CHF 242.9M
No. of Employees: 17,608
Global Headquarters: Stäfa, Switzerland
KEY EXECUTIVES:
Arnd Kaldowski, CEO
Birgit Conix, Chief Financial Officer
Ludger Althoff, GVP Operations
Victoria E. Carr-Brendel, GVP Cochlear Implants
Christophe Fond, GVP Audiological Care
Martin Grieder, GVP Consumer Hearing
Robert Woolley, GVP Hearing Instruments
Robin “Bino” Gillon has been skiing for as long as he can remember.
And probably well before that: His parents had him on skis at just 12 months old.
The product of a Dutch mother and half British/half Swiss father, Gillon was raised in Switzerland but had few friends growing up. He was unlike most other children—a poor communicator, for starters (he hadn’t quite mastered basic language skills by kindergarten), and even worse at listening. At school, Gillon was an outcast, shunned and bullied by classmates.
“Something that really broke my heart is that growing up, there was this tradition at school of receiving birthday invitations,” Gillon, 28, recalled in the short 2018 film, “Sound of Silence.” “You would prepare letters, and you would place them on everyone’s desks. But I was never invited to a birthday. It’s something that really hurt me and still weighs on me today. I didn’t understand why I wasn’t a part of it. It was very hard.”
The social rejection continued as Gillon matured, leading him to seek solace on the ski slopes. “My favorite sport is slopestyle skiing, freestyle skiing, and skiing in the mountains. I really chose skiing because you’re alone with yourself. You have nothing to prove, you do it for your own pleasure,” he explains in the film. “Right away I felt good and was far from the eyes of others. Freeskiing is a sport that you freestyle. It allowed me to look deep inside of myself and to be alone with myself. It allowed me to discover the person that I am.”
That person is a deaf World Cup and Olympic qualifying skier who is determined to become the role model he never had growing up. He wants other deaf youths to pursue their passions, to use their “disadvantage” to push themselves to their limits. He wants them to know that anything is possible.
Gillon, born with a 90% hearing loss in his left ear and a 70% loss in his right (“deaf as a fart,” he facetiously described himself in his 2018 film), is conveying that message through his 2022 documentary, “What It’s Like,” which provides a fascinating glimpse into his muted world. “Most people are scared to be different,” he notes in the documentary. “For me, that’s where I found my strength.”
He also found it through the use of Phonak hearing aids and Roger wireless microphones (the company sponsored his latest film). The microphones’ intelligent technology transmits speech directly to hearing aids and/or cochlear implants through receivers, helping its users overcome distance and noise.
Phonak’s latest hearing aid model—the Lumity platform— focuses on improved speech understanding and reduced listening effort, particularly in challenging environments. Launched in August 2022, Lumity delivers a new dimension in directional microphone technology with improved speech detection and speech understanding through new StereoZoom 2.0 and SpeechSensor. Until now, directional microphone technology has been one dimensional with sharp focus on a single or main source of sound. StereoZoom 2.0 provides a smoother, gradual, and continuously adaptive focus on a conversation partner while simultaneously maintaining a balance of environmental awareness. Clinical evidence shows that it enables 16% better speech understanding from the front and 15% better understanding from the side and behind in a noisy environment.
“The platform has launched in over 40 countries, initially in the Audéo rechargeable RIC form factor—including Audéo Lumity Life, the second generation of the world’s first rechargeable and waterproof hearing aid,” Robert Spoerry, board chair, and Arnd Kaldowski, CEO of Phonak’s parent company, Sonova, told shareholders in the firm’s FY22/23 annual report. “In April 2023, we added the Phonak Slim Lumity, while Unitron introduced its new Vivante platform as part of our strategic commitment to roll out our latest technologies across all our brands.”
The Lumity platform was among several technologies Sonova introduced in its 2022/23 fiscal year (ended March 31, 2023). Others include three smart, discreet ITE (in-the-ear) hearing systems on HANSATON’s STRATOS platform; Conversation Clear Plus earbuds; the MOMENTUM True Wireless 3 earbuds and MOMENTUM 4 wireless noise-cancelling headphones; and a tinnitus management app (currently available in Belgium and Italy).
The product launches benefitted both hearing-impaired patients and Sonova, helping the Swiss company achieve an 11.1% sales spike (to CHF 3.73 billion). Gross profit swelled 7.4% to CHF 2.64 billion and basic EPS climbed 3.2% to CHF 10.75, though results were tempered by a “challenging macroeconomic environment,” according to Sonova’s latest annual report. Adjusted group EBITA slipped 0.5% to CHF 840.4 million, representing a 22.5% margin.
Another sales booster in FY2022/23 was the price increases Sonova implemented in the wake of runaway inflation. The increases, however, were somewhat offset by slower-than-anticipated momentum of certain key hearing care markets and the non-renewal of a large contract with a U.S. customer. Acquisitions—including Alpaca Audiology in the United States (completed January 2022) and HYSOUND Group in China (finalized December 2022)— and the previous fiscal year’s addition of the Sennheiser Consumer Division contributed 12.3% to FY2022/23 sales growth. Foreign exchange rate fluctuations reduced reported sales 3.5%, or CHF 116.3 million.
Working in tandem with the product launches and price increases to drive Sonova’s overall growth was solid gains in both of the company’s reporting segments and most business divisions.
Hearing Instruments segment sales climbed 11.9% to CHF 3.45 billion, with acquisitions (namely Alpaca Audiology and the Sennheiser Consumer Division) contributing 13.4%, or CHF 412.9 million to that total. Offsetting growth in this segment was slower-than-anticipated momentum in certain key hearing care markets, the contract non-renewal, and a CHF 115.4 million loss from foreign currency exchange rates.
Each of the Hearing Instruments segment’s three business units increased revenue in FY2022/23. Hearing Instruments proceeds were up 0.2% to CHF 1.81 billion due to solid demand for the new Phonak Lumity hearing solution. The Consumer Hearing unit generated CHF 284.3 million in sales, supported by several product launches (MOMENTUM True Wireless 3 earbuds, MOMENTUM 4 wireless noise-cancelling headphones), while Audiological Care business revenue surged 15.7% to CHF 1.36 billion, driven by solid growth in Canada, the Netherlands, Nordic countries, and Austria. Acquisitions lifted sales 11.2%.
Cochlear Implants segment proceeds rose 2.8% (2.5% in Swiss francs) to CHF 286.9 million despite supply constraints and hospital staffing shortages. Cochlear implant systems revenue increased 5.1% to CHF 185.4 million but growth was hindered by an injunction that prevented Advanced Bionics from selling its HiRes Ultra 3D cochlear implant in and from Germany (the injunction was temporarily suspended in October 2022).
Upgrades and accessories proceeds slid 1% to CHF 101.5 million, though the continued global rollout of the Naída CI Marvel and Sky CI Marvel sound processors helped foster sales throughout the fiscal year.
CHF 3.73 Billion ($4.08 Billion)
Prior Fiscal: CHF 3.36 Billion
Percentage Change: +11.1%
R&D Expenditure: CHF 242.9M
No. of Employees: 17,608
Global Headquarters: Stäfa, Switzerland
KEY EXECUTIVES:
Arnd Kaldowski, CEO
Birgit Conix, Chief Financial Officer
Ludger Althoff, GVP Operations
Victoria E. Carr-Brendel, GVP Cochlear Implants
Christophe Fond, GVP Audiological Care
Martin Grieder, GVP Consumer Hearing
Robert Woolley, GVP Hearing Instruments
Robin “Bino” Gillon has been skiing for as long as he can remember.
And probably well before that: His parents had him on skis at just 12 months old.
The product of a Dutch mother and half British/half Swiss father, Gillon was raised in Switzerland but had few friends growing up. He was unlike most other children—a poor communicator, for starters (he hadn’t quite mastered basic language skills by kindergarten), and even worse at listening. At school, Gillon was an outcast, shunned and bullied by classmates.
“Something that really broke my heart is that growing up, there was this tradition at school of receiving birthday invitations,” Gillon, 28, recalled in the short 2018 film, “Sound of Silence.” “You would prepare letters, and you would place them on everyone’s desks. But I was never invited to a birthday. It’s something that really hurt me and still weighs on me today. I didn’t understand why I wasn’t a part of it. It was very hard.”
The social rejection continued as Gillon matured, leading him to seek solace on the ski slopes. “My favorite sport is slopestyle skiing, freestyle skiing, and skiing in the mountains. I really chose skiing because you’re alone with yourself. You have nothing to prove, you do it for your own pleasure,” he explains in the film. “Right away I felt good and was far from the eyes of others. Freeskiing is a sport that you freestyle. It allowed me to look deep inside of myself and to be alone with myself. It allowed me to discover the person that I am.”
That person is a deaf World Cup and Olympic qualifying skier who is determined to become the role model he never had growing up. He wants other deaf youths to pursue their passions, to use their “disadvantage” to push themselves to their limits. He wants them to know that anything is possible.
Gillon, born with a 90% hearing loss in his left ear and a 70% loss in his right (“deaf as a fart,” he facetiously described himself in his 2018 film), is conveying that message through his 2022 documentary, “What It’s Like,” which provides a fascinating glimpse into his muted world. “Most people are scared to be different,” he notes in the documentary. “For me, that’s where I found my strength.”
He also found it through the use of Phonak hearing aids and Roger wireless microphones (the company sponsored his latest film). The microphones’ intelligent technology transmits speech directly to hearing aids and/or cochlear implants through receivers, helping its users overcome distance and noise.
Phonak’s latest hearing aid model—the Lumity platform— focuses on improved speech understanding and reduced listening effort, particularly in challenging environments. Launched in August 2022, Lumity delivers a new dimension in directional microphone technology with improved speech detection and speech understanding through new StereoZoom 2.0 and SpeechSensor. Until now, directional microphone technology has been one dimensional with sharp focus on a single or main source of sound. StereoZoom 2.0 provides a smoother, gradual, and continuously adaptive focus on a conversation partner while simultaneously maintaining a balance of environmental awareness. Clinical evidence shows that it enables 16% better speech understanding from the front and 15% better understanding from the side and behind in a noisy environment.
“The platform has launched in over 40 countries, initially in the Audéo rechargeable RIC form factor—including Audéo Lumity Life, the second generation of the world’s first rechargeable and waterproof hearing aid,” Robert Spoerry, board chair, and Arnd Kaldowski, CEO of Phonak’s parent company, Sonova, told shareholders in the firm’s FY22/23 annual report. “In April 2023, we added the Phonak Slim Lumity, while Unitron introduced its new Vivante platform as part of our strategic commitment to roll out our latest technologies across all our brands.”
The Lumity platform was among several technologies Sonova introduced in its 2022/23 fiscal year (ended March 31, 2023). Others include three smart, discreet ITE (in-the-ear) hearing systems on HANSATON’s STRATOS platform; Conversation Clear Plus earbuds; the MOMENTUM True Wireless 3 earbuds and MOMENTUM 4 wireless noise-cancelling headphones; and a tinnitus management app (currently available in Belgium and Italy).
The product launches benefitted both hearing-impaired patients and Sonova, helping the Swiss company achieve an 11.1% sales spike (to CHF 3.73 billion). Gross profit swelled 7.4% to CHF 2.64 billion and basic EPS climbed 3.2% to CHF 10.75, though results were tempered by a “challenging macroeconomic environment,” according to Sonova’s latest annual report. Adjusted group EBITA slipped 0.5% to CHF 840.4 million, representing a 22.5% margin.
Another sales booster in FY2022/23 was the price increases Sonova implemented in the wake of runaway inflation. The increases, however, were somewhat offset by slower-than-anticipated momentum of certain key hearing care markets and the non-renewal of a large contract with a U.S. customer. Acquisitions—including Alpaca Audiology in the United States (completed January 2022) and HYSOUND Group in China (finalized December 2022)— and the previous fiscal year’s addition of the Sennheiser Consumer Division contributed 12.3% to FY2022/23 sales growth. Foreign exchange rate fluctuations reduced reported sales 3.5%, or CHF 116.3 million.
Working in tandem with the product launches and price increases to drive Sonova’s overall growth was solid gains in both of the company’s reporting segments and most business divisions.
Hearing Instruments segment sales climbed 11.9% to CHF 3.45 billion, with acquisitions (namely Alpaca Audiology and the Sennheiser Consumer Division) contributing 13.4%, or CHF 412.9 million to that total. Offsetting growth in this segment was slower-than-anticipated momentum in certain key hearing care markets, the contract non-renewal, and a CHF 115.4 million loss from foreign currency exchange rates.
Each of the Hearing Instruments segment’s three business units increased revenue in FY2022/23. Hearing Instruments proceeds were up 0.2% to CHF 1.81 billion due to solid demand for the new Phonak Lumity hearing solution. The Consumer Hearing unit generated CHF 284.3 million in sales, supported by several product launches (MOMENTUM True Wireless 3 earbuds, MOMENTUM 4 wireless noise-cancelling headphones), while Audiological Care business revenue surged 15.7% to CHF 1.36 billion, driven by solid growth in Canada, the Netherlands, Nordic countries, and Austria. Acquisitions lifted sales 11.2%.
Cochlear Implants segment proceeds rose 2.8% (2.5% in Swiss francs) to CHF 286.9 million despite supply constraints and hospital staffing shortages. Cochlear implant systems revenue increased 5.1% to CHF 185.4 million but growth was hindered by an injunction that prevented Advanced Bionics from selling its HiRes Ultra 3D cochlear implant in and from Germany (the injunction was temporarily suspended in October 2022).
Upgrades and accessories proceeds slid 1% to CHF 101.5 million, though the continued global rollout of the Naída CI Marvel and Sky CI Marvel sound processors helped foster sales throughout the fiscal year.