Creative Technology Ltd., makers of the Sound Blaster Live! for Macintosh audio card and Nomad line of portable MP3 devices, posted its third quarter financial results for the period ending March 31, 2001. The company posted a net loss for the quarter of US$101 million, on $263 million in sales. Blame the stock market, though, not the company’s business plan.
Although Creative accrued millions in restructuring charges, as well as write-offs of its acquisition of Aureal Semiconductor, the bulk of the losses came from write-downs against the company’s investment portfolio. Creative says it reflects the poor condition of the stock market at the end of the quarter. In fact, Creative said that if it wasn’t for one-time charges and its investment portfolio, the company would have reported a slim profit of $4.6 million.
President Craig McHugh called the quarter “challenging,” but said that Creative saw some important successes too. Creative reduced its operating expenses, kept margins high, met its revenue targets, and substantially reduced its inventory level.
Among the announcements for the quarter were Creative’s launch of the Sound Blaster Live! for Mac, a PCI-based audio card that provides Mac users with four-point digital surround sound, a MIDI interface, and other features. The company also released the 6GB NOMAD Jukebox C-Series, a portable digital audio player.