B&O went up in tune with the increasing availability of easy credit, and crashed when that stopped being available, just like most things in the segment. One could claim that in the feeding frenzy period, when people were throwing money at everthing premium and willingly paying a lot, B&O didn't get the pay-off one would expect, as the share plateaued, where some other luxury providers outpaced the segment.

Stock moved up today, on light trading. A new fiscal year about to start, turning the page, and with the new CEO's policies beginning to take hold.

Here's the 5 year chart.

I agree with the general sentiment, the products just haven't been good enough - where are the new design icons?

I can't think of any lately that stands out from the crowd - possible with the exception of the BEO5.

My smaller recent purchases the serene, serenata, BS3 have all had to go back for repair – the service I get is superb but I think the dealerships must be frustrated with the standard of the products they have to sell.

I visited my dealer this week, I had three things on my list: DVD1, Beo5 and ML cable. The first was sent out to be serviced, Beo5's was not in storage, and when I finally got to the ML cable, I was amazed at he didn't have any of it!

He told me he's not allowed to have any stock at all at the moment, because of the "business climate". Bad for business I guess, if you don't have even basic things in store? I understand not wanting to have a BV9 or BL5's in storage, but Beo5 and ML cable...? I found it a bit strange. 

Anyway I ordered the stuff from him, but if I weren't true to his shop, there are 2 more B&O sellers one some 200m away, the other 1km away. Perhaps they follow the same trend too?

How hard is Bang & Olufsen hit ?

Like USS Enterprise with shields down.

APPLE will NEVER buy B&O.

Apple's strategy is by far very different from B&O.

They have a premium tag on their price, but it is still acceptable for most of them. 

There's "value for money".

B&O does not have anymore "value for money". 20 KE for the BV9 which is a revamped panasonic...  be serious !!!

BS5 (i said that 10 months ago) is a HUGE error. 

But B&O is like bruce willis, it never dies.

plagente wrote:

APPLE will NEVER buy B&O.

 

Apple's strategy is by far very different from B&O.

They have a premium tag on their price, but it is still acceptable for most of them. 

There's "value for money".

 

B&O does not have anymore "value for money". 20 KE for the BV9 which is a revamped panasonic...  be serious !!!

 

BS5 (i said that 10 months ago) is a HUGE error. 

 

But B&O is like bruce willis, it never dies.

 

Agreed. Like now that things are going better for me, I wouldn't even want a B&O stereo or tv anymore. B&O is starting to feel like some upmarket Bose product. There is not much value and flexibilty for the customers to speak of. Nothing in the B&O range screams price no object construction or performance and that includes the BV9. It is not because that fact that they buy panels off the shelf and put them in their own tvs but it is the fact that they are doing so little to them to justify the price increase: I don't see no diamond or sapphire glass on their screens or top quality handpicked parts. I think the only things I will be buying in the immediate future is their house phones otherwise... it is all blah... 

PS. I heard that Bose isn't doing so hot too. Bose was quite a respected brand in the 60s and now it just all went down the hill. See the parrallelism?

It's nuts and I agree with Bayerische.  I went to my dealer in Chichester yesterday to audition a pair of BL8000 and the number 2 there said that he didn't have any in - not even demo's as they were at another function?!!  Come on - this is the most popular speaker in the B & O range and my dealer didn't have any in!! 

Re-Apple - I wanted to find out if my (free!) BS6 could hook into a pair of active loudspeakers but was told no - there wasn't a cable that could do it.  When I challenged him (extremely unhelpful person) saying there was an entry in the brochure for BeoLab 4 saying you could hook you're MP3 player into it,  he replied, Yes, you can do that with Ipods and other MP3 players but not the BS6.  GREAT!!  B & O have shot themselves in the foot!!

I find the best advice comes from the owner of the Chichester branch (Simon) or my extremely friendly second hand specialist B & O dealer.

I'm trying to imagine a brand that isn't having this issue in some form or another. Even the beloved Apple has had to push down their prices further to respond to the realities of the current economic climate.

But reading the two pages of this thread is like hearing the 6 blind men describing the elephant! Had you gone back in time a few years ago when things were theoretically "better" you'd find the same anecdotal evidence of success or failure. Simply because your local shop is in dire straits or high cotton doesn't mean that generalizes to the other side of the street let alone the other side of the globe.

TripEnglish wrote:

 Had you gone back in time a few years ago when things were theoretically "better" you'd find the same anecdotal evidence of success or failure. Simply because your local shop is in dire straits or high cotton doesn't mean that generalizes to the other side of the street let alone the other side of the globe.

Guess you're right on that point. I bought my first B&O equipment (BM1200) from a dealer who had just given up his franchise when the general perception was that B&O were about to go under due to the import of Japanese Hi Fi separates. That was circa 1971! Maybe the reality is that B&O, certainly within living memory, have always lived on the brink where their prices are concerned, and they have come through several recessions. I still can't make my mind up, though, whether their shares represent a good buy at the present time or whether the risk of total financial failure is still too great.

Graham

vikinguk wrote:

 I still can't make my mind up, though, whether their shares represent a good buy at the present time or whether the risk of total financial failure is still too great.

So the concensus view (i.e. lack of further positive responses) seems to be that B&O are not a good investment (from a share value point)???????

Really bad news should B&O need to raise any further funds in addition to  slashing their costs and overheads.

(Report in the Sunday Times today suggests that the super rich are cashing-in on unwanted luxury items, with the effect that high-end boats, cars etc etc are down 30% to 50% on last years asking prices. (Maybe used B&O prices are falling too??)

Graham