Amstrad’s Amserve subsidiary produces and supports the company’s e-mailer product. The e-mailer is basically a fixed-line phone with a screen that is capable of sending emails and SMS text messages. Amserve subsidises the price of each unit, and expects to recoup the loss on sale through a long-term revenue stream derived from usage of the product. During the year Amserve’s loss before tax was £6.0 million (2001: £5.2 million) on sales of £4.8 million (2001: £4.1 million).
The Amstrad business, which mainly concentrates on production of digital satellite set-top boxes for BSkyB, made a profit before tax of £4.2 million (2001: £6.2 million) on sales of £35.4 million (2001: £60.9 million). The decline in profits was due to lower sales of set-top boxes to BSkyB as BSkyB’s conversion of existing analogue customers to digital has now been completed.
