Bang & Olufsen sacks chief over profit slump
Bang & Olufsen, the upmarket audio-visual brand, has sacked its chief executive Torben Sorensen after it was announced on Wednesday that the company had shed more than a quarter of its market value.
The company’s share price dropped by 28% per cent after profits slumped by 37% from Kr150m from Kr238m for the six months to November 30.
B&O chairman Jorgen Worning blamed Sorensen for failing to take advantage of economic growth: “We will probably never have as good business conditions as in recent years,” he says.
The company says it will now focus on its “core business” video and audio products. Tino Pedersen, a company spokesman, says: “The board has an impression that maybe we ended up being a little out of focus and our priorities were not right.”
Sorensen’s departure comes despite reports in last week’s Sunday Times that he had “revived” the brand by pushing it into new areas.