Last year was an incredibly successful one for China’s popular TV brand TCL, which this week reported a record turnover of HK$46.99 billion (£4.8 billion) in 2019, up 3.1% from the year before. The company also reported a net profit of HK$2.28 billion for the year.
The company’s record turnover was due in a large part to its global TV sales, which rose by 11.9% in the year to 32 million units shipped. According to Sigmaintell, that puts TCL in second place overall in terms of total TVs shipped with a 13% market share.
TCL’s sales volume also rose by 16.5% to 20.64 million sets, leaving the company ranked third overall in terms of market share, according to data from IHS Markit.
TCL said its growth was largely driven by sales outside of its home market in China. Indeed, international sales volume of TCL-branded TVs jumped by 26.1% year-over-year to 13.46 million sets shipped. In addition, the company’s turnover increased by 14.1% to HK$21 billion.
The growth was enough to see TCL ranked as a the number one TV brand in terms of units sold in 15 countries, the company said.
One of the most important growth markets for TCL is North America, where its sales volume rose by 14.3% compared to the year before. That means TCL is now ranked as the number two TV brand in the United States.
In Europe, TCL did even better, with sales volume growing by 35% compared to one year ago, and by 54.5% in the fourth quarter. The company did especially well in Spain, the U.K., Italy, France and Germany, where sales rose by 264%, 262%, 203%, 126% and 82% respectively.
TCL also noted the importance of emerging markets to its continued growth, where sales grew by 40.8% in the year, and by 56.5% in the final quarter. “Fast-growing markets” such as India, Argentina, Australia and Russia were highlighted, as TCL saw sales volume rise by 151%, 121%, 79% and 46% respectively in those markets. The company also did well in countries such as Myanmar, the Philippines and Saudi Arabia, where it ranked as the second-most popular brand in terms of TV sales volume.
TCL is set to launch a number of new TVs later this year, including its flagship 8-series Vidrian 8K Mini-LED TVs that fuse tens of thousands of LED backlights and their circuitry directly into the TV panel’s glass substrate. The effect of this is said to be far superior local dimming than compared with regular LCD TVs, and a notable boost in contrast and luminance too.
The company is also plannning to launch a range of high-end QLED Android TVs next month, joining its two more affordable 4K HDR Android TVs that went on sale in the U.K. earlier this week.
