Asian market helps boost Dyson

A growing taste for high-end vacuum cleaners and air purifiers among consumers in Asian countries helped Dyson to a one-quarter rise in turnover to £1.7 billion last year.

For the first time, the Asia Pacific region was the biggest source of profit for the UK brand of household appliances, with revenue there 70 per cent higher compared to 2014.

Sales more than tripled in China, where Dyson began trading three years ago, while in Japan, its second-largest market globally, customers ramped up purchases by almost half. There were also increases in South Korea, Taiwan and Australia.

Coupled with growth in Europe and the Americas, this led Dyson’s earnings to jump by nearly a fifth to £488 million before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

“What is driving that growth is our expanding slate of technologies, from intelligent vacuum cleaners to air purifiers to lights,” said Max Conze, chief executive.

Founded in 1993 by industrial designer Sir James Dyson, who still owns the company, Dyson built a reputation on the suction performance of its bagless vacuum cleaners, but it has since branched out into other products such as hand dryers, fans and lighting. Cordless vacuums now generate around half its business. T

he company revealed it would launch 10 new products in five different categories in the coming months, including some novel areas for the brand. Following an initial rollout in Japan, a long-awaited robot vacuum cleaner called the Eye 360 will be available in other countries from summer.

In a sign of the engineering firm’s ambitions to transform itself into a leader in disruptive technologies, Dyson is also investing heavily into long-lasting battery technology, which it hopes will power its cordless machines. Last week it received a £16 million grant from the UK government towards that research.

Despite having shifted his manufacturing operations overseas more than a decade ago, Sir James has been a vocal proponent of the need to promote innovation and research in the UK. As part of a £1.5 billion investment programme, Dyson will this year open the first phase of a £250 million expansion at its Wiltshire headquarters, and it is currently recruiting 200 engineers in Britain.

“All of our IP, patents, inventions and technologies are generated in the UK. They create highly-valued, well-paid British jobs and most of the taxes we pay in the world are paid in Britain,” said Mr Conze.

The strong annual results come as Dyson is attempting to have overturned European Union regulations for labelling the energy efficiency of vacuum cleaners, which it claims create loopholes exploited by rival manufacturers.

Underlining Dyson’s recent financial success, its holding company – Holkham Group – paid an interim dividend of £55 million to Sir James Dyson last March following a £25 million payout in 2014, according to the latest company filings.

Sir James pledged a £12 million donation towards a school of design engineering at Imperial College London last year.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016