TomTom Deals for GPS Reviews and Sat Nav Discount Vouchers

Despite the economically tough times affecting families across the world right now, gadget companies appear to be coming through the crisis relatively unscathed. TomTom CEO Corinne Vigreux responded to fears surrounding the sat nav company’s finances, by declaring that TomToms were still selling well and there hadn’t been any noticeable drop off.

“Technology is still being bought and sold if it answers a real need and we believe that’s what we do,” said Vigreux at the launch of the Go 940 LIVE. “We announced our results yesterday and we’re still alive and kicking – the margins are still there.”

Here’s a summary of the company’s published financial results for the 3rd quarter:
For the first three quarters of this year, TomTom’s total PND shipments reached 7.6 million units, the company revealed. TomTom’s third quarter results saw revenue of €429m, with a gross profit of €240m. However, the company have lowered their shipment target for 2008. They adjusted the outlook for 2008 to 12-13 million units from its previous projection of 14-15 million units as demand for navigation solutions has grown at a slower pace than expected, according to the company. So what they are saying is, it hasn’t slowed, it just hasn’t grown as fast as expected this year due to the financial crisis. This is a global change as TomTom now expects the PND markets in Europe and North America to each grow to 18 million units this year, compared to 20 million units expected previously.

For the third quarter of this year TomTom estimated that the Sat Nav device market in Europe grew more than 15% from the previous year to approximately 4.2 million units, and the North American market grew by close to 100% to 3.1 million units.

TomTom shipped 2.53 million Personal Navigation Device (PND) products in the third quarter, down 18% sequentially but up 17% on year. This means that TomTom continue to hold a leading market share in Europe of around 45% and a North American market share of over 20%. Gross margin grew to 47% in the third quarter from 42% in the previous quarter, whereas ASPs (average selling prices) improved to 136 euro (US$180) from the previous quarter’s 131 euro.