United Imaging Group reports record sales in 2019
Leading European photo/video buying group United Imaging Group GmbH & Co.KG announced 2019 sales of 379.5 million euros in 2019, a 27.6 percent increase from the 82 million euros from the year before. Even taking into account the 67 million euros contributed by the newly acquired europafoto membership, the group still gained more than 15 million from the year prior.
Inventory sales at 222.1 million euros were 45 million euros higher than in the previous year (up 25.4%) and the route sales (central settlement) showed an increase of EUR 37.0 million to EUR 157.4 million on (+30.8%). Group sales – including the foreign sales of all subsidiaries – at 458 million euros, are 20.8% significantly higher than in the previous year.
The most significant sales increases were achieved in the range of mirrorless system cameras (up 55.7%), lenses (up 38.3%), video (up 72.5%) and high-quality compact cameras (up 14.4%). The Voigtländer lens range recorded sales growth of 18.4% in 2019. And the exclusive “Special Edition” bundles are still very well received by the retailer. The camera drones product area continues to boom, while the dynamic sales growth in the instant image area has weakened significantly. Sales of SLR cameras continued to decline by 7.9%.
The number of members increases slightly
As of December 31, 2019, the UNITED IMAGING GROUP GmbH & Co.KG had 1,329 members (previous year: 1,310) with 1,718 sales outlets. This is 19 members more than in the previous year.
As of December 31, 2019, UIG had 393 shareholders (20 more than at the end of 2018). There are 49 entries and 29 exits. The reasons for the departure of shareholders are still financial reasons or operational tasks.
Sales growth and three new Voigtländer lenses
UIG reported three new Voigtländer lenses are coming onto the market in spring: the Nokton 35mm / 1: 1.2 III VM aspherical – a particularly bright lens for travel and street photography and an optimized version of the previous model; the super wide-angle lens Nokton 21mm / 1: 1.4 VM, which is already in the initial delivery; and the Nokton 60mm / 1: 0.95 MFT. More than 40 different Voigtländer lenses will be available shortly. The group will also provide two new exclusive kits for the Sony Alpha ILCE 7 series cameras.
The group noted an anticipated positive sales trend for the 2020 financial year, based on europafoto member contributions and exciting mirrorless cameras in the pipeline, but the coronavirus pandemic will have an unknown impact on the German economy and on the supply chain.