Compare and contrast

It's financial reporting season and I've just see some interesting results from AVT parent Augusta Technologie. You can click the link for the full report; I'm just going to highlight two points.

First, they're doing really rather well. First half 2012 sales are up 10% over the same period in 2011 and profit is up 50%. Second, they're projecting growth of 9% for the next couple of years.

Now compare that with the results from Basler. Admittedly, their decline was due to the under-performing, (some might say non-performing,) Solutions division, but putting that aside, their camera business wasn't showing any growth.

What's the difference between the two companies? Well Basler make great cameras, some might argue that they are higher quality than those from AVT, but they tend to be more expensive. And also, AVT and sister company LMI seem to promote themselves more aggressively. A third point to mention is that AVT has a much wider range of cameras. Presumably this helps them capture more niche business, although I've always seen variety as adding cost and complexity.

So what does the future hold? The big news is that Augusta is becoming part of TKH Group NV. TKH is a big organization with deep pockets, so I imagine AVT and LMI will continue their aggressive growth. If they hold it to 9% there will be room for Basler, but frankly, I fear for Basler's market share over the next couple of years.