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ASUS Refuses To Say How They Account For Millions In OZ Revenues

Taiwanese PC maker ASUS who also goes under the name Asustek Computers is refusing to say where the tens of millions that they generate in Australia selling their products are accounted for.

The Company that sells notebooks, monitors, hard drives and networking technology has struggled to get traction in the PC notebook market, but they are generating millions selling a variety of hardware solutions including gaming PC’s B2B and Consumer PC’s along with millions of dollars worth of  PC peripherals in Australia.

Despite this the latest financial filings with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission reveals that ASUS Australia Company only managed to generate $187,445 in profit last year on claimed revenues of $7.2M, this was down on the prior year’s profit of $274,000 which was generated from $7.079 in sales.

In comparison their rivals Dell, Acer, HP and Lenovo generated over $1 Billion in revenue between them.

Dell Australia reported AU$11.49 million in after-tax profit earlier this year, this was up AU$1.4 million year on year. This was achieved on revenues of AU$268.4 million, up from the 2016 total of AU$245.7 million.

Lenovo Australia delivered a 50% jump in revenue from sale of goods for the year ending 31 March 2015.

Sale of goods jumped from AU$352.5 million to AU$528.6 million, with services revenue also making an upward jump from $18.3 million to $24.6 million.

The increased revenues saw the company log a profit before income tax of $6.1 million, a 71% increase from the previous year’s $3.6 million. Their revenues for 2016/2017 has not been reported.

Acer Computer Australia reported after-tax profit of AU$3.2 million for the full year ended December 31, 2016, turning around the AU$3.6 million loss reported in the previous year.

Revenues rose 10.4 percent from AU$275.9 million in 2015 to AU$304.6 million in 2016.

ChannelNews approached the Company to explain where and how they filed their returns for Australia. This was done via their newly appointed PR agency Thrive PR, they refused to supply any information.

Last month the agency who replaced Spectrum PR said that the agency “will be responsible for supporting the growth of the ASUS brand across both the Australian and New Zealand markets”, however it appears that they have been instructed not to reveal where the millions in ASUS sales are reported.

Portia Chang, regional director for Australia and NZ at ASUS did not return our calls.

Their PR  agency also refused to say how millions of dollars’ worth of ASUS products that are distributed by Synnex or Ingram Micro every month are accounted for in Australia or which entity these goods are sold through.

They also refused to provide information on why some staff were paid by an ASUS subsidiary in Singapore called ASUS Global Pty Ltd or what role ASUS Services plays in the Australian operation.
They also refused to say whether ASUS was currently being investigated by the Australian Tax Office.

What ChannelNews has tried to ascertain is who owns the goods branded ASUS that are sold via a variety of channels in Australia.
In the consumer market ASUS is struggling to get traction in the notebook market due in part to image issues associated with the brand.

According to GFK data the brand has seen market share fall from 13% to less than 6% in the sub $500 market where brands such as HP, Acer and Lenovo are stripping share away from the Taiwanese brand.

It was only 12 months ago that the Company was telling journalists that were set to be a major player in the premium notebook market with their $2,600 Zenbook 3.

The notebook that was a copy of the Apple MacBook has already been discounted out to sub $2K and is not sold by JB Hi Fi.
In the public education market where several PC brands are listed as a potential supplier ASUS has failed to make the list due in part to their Company structure in Australia.

A search of the ASIC database reveals that ASUS and ASUS online are registered as business names only.

In 2016, a Company called ASUS Service Australia reported revenues of $7.06M and a loss of $50,956.

The same entity in 2015 reported a loss of $208,723. Both ASUS Australia Pty Ltd and ASUS Australia Pty Ltd returns were lodged by RMS Australia Partners.

ASUS Services which appears to operate from the same address in Australia reported employee costs of $2.6M, Rent of $413,784 and Admin costs of $1.3M.

ASUS Australia reported no rent costs but employee costs came in at $5.6M while Admin costs were $1.012M.

Neither ASUS Australia or ASUS Services are listed in the Yellow or White pages. No address for either Company is given out on the Company’s Australian web site.

When ChannelNews called the Companies Australian sales and service numbers, call centre staff who answered did not even know where North Ryde was or which State in Australia ASUS operated from.



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