IMAX to partner TCL Multimedia to develop and produce a high-end home-theater system in less than two years.

November 1, 2013 Leave a comment

IMAX effect to come home in joint effort
Thursday, October 31, 2013
TCL Multimedia Technology (1070) will partner Canadian big-screen pro IMAX Corp to develop and produce a high-end home-theater system in less than two years. The units, to be made under a 50-50 joint venture, will boast Imax’s projection and sound technology. But they won’t come cheap. To hit the stores in 2015, each unit will cost 1.52 million yuan (HK$1.9 million).“Its high quality projection and sound technology make it the most expensive among all existing similar systems, which cost between 30,000 and 700,000 yuan in the mainland,” TCL chairman Hao E said.

Shenzhen-based TCL estimates an annual demand of 2,000 units in the mainland and yearly growth of more than 20 percent, with global sales to be at least three times more.

Hao expects the profit margin to be far higher than that of TCL’s usual electrical appliances business, which is 15 to 20 percent, but did not offer any exact figures.

Similar but lower-end systems costing around 100,000 yuan may also be launched sometime in the future.

TCL currently controls the largest share of the mainland LCD television market, but posted a loss of HK$140 million in the third quarter this year, after a profit of HK$200 million a year earlier. Hao attributed the plunge to over-optimistic sales projections, which caused a hike in inventory.

IMOGENE WONG

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