Garmin reported its full calendar year 2023 financial results, which include revenue for JL Audio.
JL Audio revenue was $42 million, as reported under Garmin’s marine sales (but it includes all JL Audio revenue from all categories including car and home audio, said a Garmin spokesperson). Garmin officially purchased JL Audio on September 20, 2023, so its revenue would date from then.
For the year Garmin’s marine audio sales reached $917 million, an increase of one percent over the prior year. Going forward, JL Audio is expected to account for 15 percent of Garmin’s total marine sales, said the company on an earnings call with analysts Wednesday.
Garmin said its marine gross margins were 54 percent and operating income $179 million for the year. Excluding JL Audio, Garmin marine sales would have declined three percent for the year.
Garmin President and CEO Clifton Pemble estimated that the marine market in general declined about 10 percent in 2023. “When you look at all the various players, we outperformed with market share gains. So we’re thrilled with that, and we expect in 2024 that we’ll continue to perform ahead of the market. In terms of the dynamic between OEM and aftermarket in marine, the aftermarket is really the bigger slice of the pie, if you will. So we’re influenced more by those dynamics…”
In its auto OEM segment Garmin revenue increased 49 percent to $423 million, a new record, but with a loss of $10 million. The increase in revenue was mainly due to increased shipments of domain controllers (they control a set of automotive functions) to BMW. Garmin said it has been awarded a new multi-year contract with another premium automaker to supply domain controllers starting in 2027. This is projected to be the single largest award in Garmin’s history.
The company also announced it expanded its motorcycle entertainment with Yamaha Motors.
In total, for all divisions, including outdoor, fitness and aviation, Garmin posted revenue of approximately $1.5 billion for the fourth quarter, up 13 percent over a year ago with operating income of $340 million, up 27 percent. For the full year, revenue was $5.4 billion, up 8 percent with operating income of $1.9 billion.
See the full financial report here.
