Creative Technology Ltd

  • Need someone to talk to?
    Feeling down, anxious and need help? Mental Health Helpline: 6389-2222 (24 hours) More info
goldnut

goldnut

Master Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2013
Messages
4,412
Reaction score
1,559
5408854088 said:
Creative Technology's shares see significant rise; prompts SGX query

https://www.theedgesingapore.com/ne...shares-see-significant-rise-prompts-sgx-query
Click to expand...

Shares in Creative Technology reached as high as $2.80 at 1.24pm, up 12.45% from its share price of $2.49 at market open.

The spike triggered a query from Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) at 1.29pm, who asked if the company was aware of any information that could have caused the “unusual” price movement.
Click to expand...

31 cents is a 'significant rise' ? :s13::s13::s13: In America, this is called satire.
 
Shion

Shion

Senior Mentor
Joined
Oct 24, 2008
Messages
370,422
Reaction score
118,429

‘We still value our loyal supporters’: Creative Technology’s Sim Wong Hoo​


Work on the firm’s third-generation Super X-Fi technology is currently underway, but founder Sim Wong Hoo hasn’t forgotten about older fans who grew up with its Sound Blaster technology.

https://cnaluxury.channelnewsasia.com/people/creative-technology-sim-wong-hoo-14925162
There's a lot to live up to, when your brand name reads like a banner of blue-sky thinking. But the notion of originality is something that Creative Technology founder Sim Wong Hoo seems to single-mindedly cleave to, more than a decade after he walked away US$100 million (S$132 million) richer from a legal tussle with Apple over music player patents.

He's spent a good part of the past 20 years developing the critically acclaimed Super X-Fi (SXFI) technology, which whisked his tech firm out of obscurity two years ago. Its second generation iteration – enhanced with more precise personalisation – bagged seven awards at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show in the US, while numerous products using the chip have been released.

SXFI, designed to recreate a multi-dimensional sound experience in headphones, could well be Sim's magnum opus. He proclaims that hyperrealistic audio – which Creative achieves by customising sound using an algorithm of individual head and ear profiles – will be the status quo; “like transitioning from black-and-white to colour television”.

Anything less is anathema to him. “Most of us are accustomed to horrible cell phone sounds, but if I made my engineers listen to them, they would commit suicide,” he joked, adding that digital audio can only be appreciated beyond the 24-bit depth range.

Not that he's fussing over the semantics of sound. For him, it's something that resonates on a visceral level. “I was watching a drama set in ancient China that ended with this really stupid dialogue, something cliched about the future. I found myself tearing up, and realised it was because of the soundtrack – turn off the music and you feel nothing. That's why it's important to have the best audio possible,” he said.

Consider the emotionally vulnerable multitudes sequestered at home, reliving halcyon days on the cue of Netflix's “ta-dum” intro, and that might explain Creative's steep rise in revenue. According to an unaudited financial statement, the company posted an 82 per cent year-on-year increase in gross profit for the first half of the year that ended in December, as well as a six-figure net profit – a stark contrast to its net loss of US$8.5 million for the same period the previous year.

It's a sharp turn of fortune, which signals Creative's US$100 million outlay into SXFI may be paying off. The company partly attributes this to improved online infrastructure. Perhaps this reflects their efforts to run in step with a new generation of consumers.

Last year, they released a gaming headset with a mode for better spatial perception in first-person shooter games. To trumpet SXFI technology, Creative partnered with the Badminton World Federation to broadcast tournaments in real time using SXFI Live technology.

At the same time, the 66-year-old reveals that there's an ace up his sleeve, when it comes to propitiating older fans who grew up with Creative's ubiquitous Sound Blaster technology. “It is an upcoming product involving huge R&D. We still value our loyal supporters, who purchase thousands of products every time we do a show in Singapore,” he shared.

SOUND OF A GENERATION

While Sound Blaster audio cards were first popularised by gamers in the 90s, you'd be hard-pressed to find a millennial who hasn't owned a pair of their speakers, through which they piped Napster-looted mash-ups. Used in Microsoft products, the sound cards transformed tinny PC audio into something less android and more dynamic – a game-changer for the progenitor of e-sports.

So it's understandable that an emotional connection to the brand has endured. Sim fondly remembers Dr Sbaitso, Creative's early Artificial Intelligence text-to-speech programme that served as a companion for awkward adolescents. Another voice recognition software featured an animated talking parrot voiced by Sim.

“I was standing beside a screen showing the parrot at an exhibition, and this American man started yelling about how much he hated the parrot, which his daughter played on repeat. So I gave him a beta-version of a talking Bambi that allowed him to record his own voice,” he said, laughing.

Such fodder for frothy entertainment is a far cry from the company's current focus on hardware. Sim says his best ideas materialise in dreams of a cinematic hue. “I have exhilarating dreams of levitating and swooping down from certain heights. I get no appreciation, floating over people who ignore me,” he recounted. There's a childlike whimsy in the 66-year-old, who tells me he invented a low-tech contraption to correct his cycling posture – strings tied to bike handles.

Life isn't arid of inspiration, which he finds on solitary midnight jogs. “I enjoy solitude, so I was alright during the lockdown – I even cut my own hair,” shared the soft-spoken bachelor, who practises qigong at home. But don't confuse independence for the idiosyncrasies of a misanthrope. The self-professed outlier contends that he's merely selective over his company.

“A lot of times, people yak, yak, yak in a big group without actually communicating. Someone usually goes off-tangent about their car or house without digesting what the other has said. Why should I just listen to people talking about their mundane lives? It's like I'm speaking with a non-problematic version of Woody Allen, sans the neuroses."

Living by his own terms, he philosophises, entails relinquishing needs to remove anxiety – wisdom borrowed from Zen Buddhism. While it may be a stretch to call him an ascetic, the man who once claimed the mantle as Singapore's youngest billionaire has obviously gone against the grain by paring down. He's delisted Creative from Nasdaq, and swapped his Lexus – his most extravagant purchase – for a hybrid Toyota.

STAY LEAN TO WEATHER ADVERSITY

Presently, Sim's biggest worry is finding a successor for Creative, though there are potential candidates. “It's difficult to find creative minds in technology who can bring ideas to fruition. Such a CEO has to walk a very painful path because you are always in internal conflict having to rein yourself in due to technological limitations,” he mused.

Thankfully, aside from supply chain issues and travel restrictions that halted in-person communication with overseas partners, business has been relatively unscathed by the pandemic.

“Financially, we are strong and have zero debt, so we can weather it quite well,” he shared. His refrain for an age of uncertainty? “Stay lean and mean. You have to prepare for this kind of thing, because the world is getting more dangerous. It is almost a world war, as we try to create enemies among ourselves,” he cautioned, alluding to geo-political tensions.

Financial prudence isn't alien to the former kampung boy, who grew up in a farm at Pasir Panjang and taught himself how to play the harmonica while performing household chores. And it's what he advises budding Singaporean technopreneurs to exercise.

“A lot of companies here think they can be the next Google, but success stories about unicorns aren't real for the most part. Common folk won't have the same backing as multi-national companies. Stay lean and start with the local market – it’s a jungle out there,” he asserted.

For now, Creative is moving ahead at full tilt, working on its third-generation SXFI. Past grievances may have atrophied, too. I ask if he finds Steve Jobs-related questions annoyingly trite. After all, the narrative of the valiant Singaporean who took on Goliath must have wrung itself dry by now.

“I try not to mention the case as I've accepted their settlement, so I can't complain. They executed things better than us, and we were up against the world's best marketeer,” he mused in typical tongue-in-cheek fashion.

Before leaving, I experience the Atmos-certified SXFI Carrier, a sound bar jointly developed with Dolby that was recently launched commercially. Together with a 10-inch wireless subwoofer, it packs a punch, with layers of sound reverberating crisply across the room as the video clip rolls. I hear shattered glass tinkling onto the ground around me, while a child's laughter drifts in from a distance. Holographic audio of the future doesn't quite sound like hype.
 
Shion

Shion

Senior Mentor
Joined
Oct 24, 2008
Messages
370,422
Reaction score
118,429

Creative Technology announces intent to expand into eldercare, says OEM plans delayed by ’draconian measures’ in China​


https://www.theedgesingapore.com/ne...nd-eldercare-says-oem-plans-delayed-draconian
Creative Technology has announced in its annual report that the company is looking at expanding into other electronics products, such as the Internet-of-Things and elderly care segments.

In its annual report, Creative chairman and CEO Sim Wong Hoo says “we will be leveraging a revolutionary yet highly affordable visual infra-red sensor from an investee company which we have incubated for several years, to create new and exciting products for various sectors.”

This is in light of the company’s losses for FY2022 ended June increasing to an US$11 million ($15.76 million) loss, up from US$8 million in the same period a year ago.

Sim describes FY2022 as an “extremely difficult and challenging year for Creative.” Revenue also dropped by 27.3% from US$84 million in FY2021 to US$61 million in FY2022. This has led to the company issuing a notice for three consecutive years of pre-tax losses.

Companies will be included on the SGX Watchlist if records pre-tax losses for the three most recently completed consecutive financial years (based on audited full-year consolidated accounts) and an average daily market capitalisation of less than $40 million over the last six months.

Sim says that Creative’s business was adversely affected by some major changes in the global economic environment for its 1HFY2022 ended December 2021, as operating results were initially affected by shipping delays, skyrocketing increases in freight costs and the global shortage of semiconductors.

This resulted in Creative facing spikes in prices of certain semiconductor components and shortages of certain products.

In the second half year, the company was impacted by “unexpected global events”, Sim says.

This included pandemic-related lockdowns in China that added to the ongoing supply chain disruptions, the Russia-Ukraine war, as well as related sanctions.

This contributed to the spike in energy costs and inflation rates, and in turn, affected the business environment in many markets for Creative’s products.

“Under these circumstances, the overall market for discretionary products, especially consumer electronics products, was difficult and unpredictable, resulting in a decline in sales,” he says

In the message, Sim also revealed that Creative’s Super X-Fi technology, which was planned to be incorporated into OEM technologies, has been delayed by pandemic-related constraints in the past two years. Its sales and design cycles, he says, “are much longer”.

Sim says, “While we had restarted many of the processes in the earlier part of the fiscal year and started to make some progress, this has again been further disrupted by continuing pandemic-related constraints and more draconian measures within China, where these OEM prospects are located.”

Last year, in his FY2021 message, Sim says that “we have started to make significant progress,” revealing that one of the prospects, working with Creative in the final phase, is a well-known consumer electronics maker. “When this is successful, we expect other manufacturers to follow suit.”

However, in his outlook for FY2022, he notes that the outlook for the global economy remains highly uncertain with the heightened geopolitical tensions, the on-going Russia-Ukraine war, high energy costs and rising inflation rates.

In addition, the possibility of further pandemic-related lockdowns in China and its potential disruptive impact on the global supply chain has also added to the level of uncertainty for Creative.

“While Creative continues to work towards re-growing our business and improving our financial performance, there is presently little visibility of achieving this in the near term, given the current challenging market conditions which are expected to continue to have a significant impact on the results for the year,” Sim writes.

Creative shares closed at $1.66 per share on Oct 10, valuing the company at $124.5 million.
 
apple459721

apple459721

Arch-Supremacy Member
Joined
May 12, 2011
Messages
19,513
Reaction score
5,192
Sony or other big tech should just buyout this creative..very cheap & get their technology..
Their products also quite decent
Think very difficult for them to survive alone this time..
 
Last edited:
skpuppy

skpuppy

Master Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2017
Messages
3,362
Reaction score
629
apple459721 said:
Sony or other big tech should just buyout this creative..very cheap & get their technology..
Their products also quite decent
Think very difficult for them to survive alone this time..
Click to expand...
No technology la. They think they have but in reality, no one cares. My bro gave me 1 of their sound bar and the quality really cmi
 
reddevil0728

reddevil0728

Great Supremacy Member
Joined
Dec 16, 2005
Messages
65,817
Reaction score
5,721
skpuppy said:
No technology la. They think they have but in reality, no one cares. My bro gave me 1 of their sound bar and the quality really cmi
Click to expand...
If really no one cares they gone long ago liao. Obviously enough people care right
 
apple459721

apple459721

Arch-Supremacy Member
Joined
May 12, 2011
Messages
19,513
Reaction score
5,192
new chairman & ceo, maybe will seek for buyout..

market cap very cheap only 121M sgd

offer 50-100% premium still very cheap to those big techs 😂

their products also selling very well in shopee/lazada

just need more exposure & advertising overseas..
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Important Forum Advisory Note
This forum is moderated by volunteer moderators who will react only to members' feedback on posts. Moderators are not employees or representatives of HWZ Forums. Forum members and moderators are responsible for their own posts. Please refer to our Community Guidelines and Standards and Terms and Conditions for more information.
Top