E.M.I. quits colour TV business

Press, 14 December 1977, Page 23

E.M.I. quits colour TV business

PA Sydney E.M.L (Australia), Ltd, has become the first real casualty of the colour television upsets in Australia. It has announced that it is quitting the business. The company, which manufactures, imports and markets sets under the H. and Healing brands, is handing over its television and audio equipment business to the U.K.-controlled Rank Industries Australia Propriety, Ltd, from January I. The move is after the sudden collapse of the Australian colour television market at the beginning of the year — the number of sets sold in Australia dropped from 1.2 M in 1976 to an estimated 800,000 this year. Forecasts for colour television set sales in the coming 12 months are down as low as 600,000, with the decline expected to continue in 1979. The E.M.L decision is the second big rationalisation in the local industry within the last six months. Earlier this year Philips Industries Holdings, Ltd, took over its associate, Pye Industries, Ltd, and combined production of the Pye Philips and Kriesler brands. The shakeout has been much more severe at the retail end of the market where the number of brands available in Australia has dropped from about 55 to 15 in the past 12 months. E.M.l.’s decision to get out of the business leaves Australia with eight factories, all designed to produce for a market running at 1976 levels, sharing an ever-de-creasing total business. However, the E.M.L move will substantially increase Rank Industries’ chances of surviving the squeeze.