iRobot has published its financial results of the last year. «We closed 2019 on a positive note by delivering fourth-quarter revenue, operating income and EPS that exceeded our October plans – explained Colin Angle, chairman and chief executive officer of the company. – Our financial performance this quarter benefited from the combination of strong revenue growth in the United States and disciplined spending. Throughout 2019, we executed well on all major elements of our strategy while navigating increasingly challenging market conditions in the U.S. and intense price competition in EMEA. As a result, we maintained our Roomba leadership, took important steps to further broaden our product portfolio within and beyond RVCs, advanced our efforts to build out our Smart Home ecosystem, and made tangible progress diversifying our supply chain activities.»
Going on, Angle said that iRobot success also depended on the newest pricing and promotional tactics used last year, that played an important role in enabling the company to defend its category leadership and hold share in the U.S. despite aggressive price competition.
«We believe that consumer demand for RVCs remains fundamentally healthy – also declared Angle- although we expect challenging U.S. market conditions to persist into 2020. As we move forward, we are focused on executing against our 2020 strategic priorities in ways that will enable us to drive near-term growth, fortify our leadership and set us up to capitalize on a broad range of exciting longer-term opportunities.»
Commenting specifically on the company’s 2020 financial outlook, Angle added: «2020 is shaping up to be a year of transition for iRobot. We anticipate 2020 revenue growth in the range of 9% to 11%, although our operating profitability and EPS are expected to be constrained primarily by pricing and promotional activity and tariff costs. While we plan to continue carefully managing our spending this year, it is imperative that we continue funding the investments that we believe will enable us to rebound in 2021 and beyond with accelerated revenue growth, meaningful improvements in operating income and robust operating cash flow generation.»
iRobot full-year 2019 revenue was 1,214.0 million dollar, recording an increase of 11% over 1,092.6 million dollar in 2018. Full-year 2019 international revenue grew 15% driven primarily by Japan at 21% and EMEA at 15%. Full-year 2019 revenue growth in the U.S. was 8%.
The Roomba s9 Series, the Braava jet m6 Series and international sales of the Roomba i7 Series, generated 17% of 2019 total revenue. The company achieved its goal of surpassing 100 million dollar in revenue for 2019 for the Braava family of robot mops.
