B&C Speakers: Loudspeaker demand to in the next 2-3 years
----Interview with Andrea Pratesi Purchasing Director B&C Speakers Spa
Founded in 1946, B&C Speakers is one of largest and most prestigious professional loudspeaker transducer manufacturers in the world. In addition to designing and distributing components under the B&C brand name, they also supply OEM components to many of the top professional audio brands in the market today.
Asian Metal: Thanks for accepting the interview of Asian Metal, Andrea! Would you please introduce your company firstly?
Andrea: Thank you for offering this chance to me, Vivian. B&C Speakers Spa group is composed of three companies, B&C Speakers Spa, Eighteen Sound Srl, and Ciare. All brands are Italian loudspeakers manufactures. Italy has a great history in producing professional transducers and B&C Speakers want to be an important player in professional audio market. Actually we have 36% of share in touring (concert, live show), one of the most important market segment. Our products are designed, developed and assembled in our two Italian facilities, located in Florence and Reggio Emilia. Our mission is to supply the best quality products to our customers.
Asian Metal: As far as I know, B&C Speakers completed the acquired Eighteen Sound Srl in December 2017. Would you please give a brief introduction of Eighteen Sound Srl?
Andrea: Eighteen Sound was one of our competitor. This company produces unique design loudspeakers and it has an advantage of distribution. The take-over was strategically good as B&C Speaker Spa developed pretty much OEM and big constructor segment. Eighteen Sound's annual revenue is around 12 million Euro. After the acquisition, B&C Speakers group's annual revenue reaches 56 million Euro. This data shows how much we are interested to be a strong player in professional audio market.
Asian Metal: As your company is a leading supplier of loudspeakers, I believe your products are distributed to clients from all over the world. Would you please introduce your customer distribution?
Andrea: Yes, we ship our products all over the world. Our first market is Europe where we sell 45% of our production. The second and third markets are North America and Asia, with 22% and 20% shares. We also supply products to clients from South America (9%) and Middle East (around 2%). The most important thing is that our sales to all these countries are still growing.
Asian Metal: May I know what kind of magnet your company mainly consumes? Do you purchase all magnets you need from China?
Andrea: We use ferrite and NdFeB magnets. Ferrite magnet is still popular especially in Asia and South America markets. In 2018 we consumed ferrite magnet to produce 44% of products. The other 56% were made of NdFeB magnets.
Asian Metal: Supported by the climbing prices of PrNd mischmetal and ferrodysprosium 80%, the Chinese NdFeB magnet market saw increasing prices in May, early and the middle of June. But now the prices are sliding due to the soft demand from end users. May I know whether your magnet suppliers adjusted prices frequently over the past weeks?
Andrea: It is true that NdFeB magnet and its rare earth raw material prices went up sharply in May and the first half month of June. These prices moved down in late June. Unfortunately raw material prices are unpredictable. Yes, after growing for around one month, our NdFeB magnets began to lower the price in late June.
Asian Metal: What's your opinion about current magnet prices? May I know your opinion about the price trend in the near term?
Andrea: NdFeB magnet cost is an important part of our product’s bill of material. Generally speaking the current magnet price is still acceptable. We do hope NdFeB magnet cost will be stable because it is not easy for us to to share increasing cost with customers.
Asian Metal: The global economy is dim. May I know how about the demand for your loudspeakers in this H1?
Andrea: Although the competition among suppliers was furious, our products demand grew up slightly over the past years. The demand in this H1 also increases softly.
Asian Metal: May I know your anticipation of loudspeaker industry in the coming years?
Andrea: In my opinion, the demand for loudspeaker will show increase trend in the next 2-3 years. Consumer spending for live entertainment (concerts, sport events and festival) is increasing worldwide. International Ticketing Yearbook forecasted to reach 830mn USD in 2021 while in 2018 reached 735mn USD. I can confirm that all of our major customers are developing new sound systems catching better performances in term of quality of sound and innovative design. Market is sparkling.
Asian Metal: Thanks for your time, Andrea! Wish you every success in your business.
Andrea: Thank you for your interest in our company!
