The company is driving hard to get recognition as an introducer of innovative products
DQW News Bureau
Taiwan, September 25
After suffering a negative revenue growth from 2007-2008, the BenQ Group registered a positive growth in the last fiscal year. With a range of products, from projectors, cameras to LCD monitors and notebooks the company is hoping to bounce back with an expected revenue of more than $20 billion for 2010—11.
The company's conceptual products displayed at its recent Global Distributors Meeting at Sun Moon Lake City (Taiwan) gave an indication of its plans for future 3D televisions that range from 18 inches to 42 inches 3D monitors and energy-efficient lighting solutions. The group also has ambitious projects like a 3D television model that can be viewed without any glasses, and notebooks that can power itself just from room light.
“The global slowdown gave us an opportunity to carry out a re-organizational exercise. Today, we are much slimmer and stronger,” said Jerry Wang, Vice Chairman, BenQ Group.
“Today, BenQ is among the world's top three companies in projector sales, and top six in LCD products. We have a brand presence in over 100 countries. In future, it won't just be about consumer electronics. Medical equipment is coming in and we will do other innovative things also,” he added.
Wang further adds that the company is seeing a lot of opportunities that are emerging in healthcare industry, green products, cloud computing and convergence of electronic products. “We believe that the market will undergo drastic changes in the coming years and products that really entertain and make the difference will be much sought after.”
He also said that company's projector business, which competes mainly with Japan's Seiko Epson, stands to reach a 10 percent global market share at some point this year. He said that the BenQ Group is also seeking an initial public offering (IPO) in two years as it expands into the medical field, putting behind it a failed venture in Europe.
BenQ bought the mobile phone handset business from Germany's Siemens AG in 2005, but after losses of $1.2 billion the unit filed for bankruptcy in 2006. BenQ then split itself into two parts, a listed OEM manufacturer called Qisda and another is the unlisted BenQ business.
Talking about the planned IPO, Wang said, “Every year we pay attention to major potential investors and try to be in contact with them always.” Seeking to diversify, BenQ has also begun co-managing a 3,000-bedded hospital in Nanjing, China and will do the same next year at a 1,500-bedded hospital in the Chinese city of Suzhou, he added. The hospital operations dovetail with BenQ's shift into medical equipment, said Wang. The company recently acquired a Taiwan firm, Trident Medical, that produces optical scanning devices. “The acquisition helped us to become Taiwan's largest medical equipment firm,” he added.